VR might alter the way physicians interact with patients
Novel surgical techniques and medications are frequent instances of medical progress.
Virtual reality has been used in the medical field for a number of years, and studies have shown that it may improve the performance of novice surgeons. The technology can remove the risk of performing operations on real patients.
VR has garnered renewed attention in the medical field after the release of Apple’s Vision Pro spatial computing headset on February 2. Consequently, healthcare practitioners are under pressure to devise innovative ways to use this technology to benefit patients.
Dr. Frank Tsai of HonorHealth in Scottsdale is one such specialist. Tsai works as an oncologist and investigator at HonorHealth in Scottsdale, where she specialises in clinical trial-based cancer research. He claims that when treating cancer, doctors may have heated conversations over the findings of several scans.
He can thus see a scenario in which that data—CAT scan or MRI, for example—converges in a virtual reality setting where all of the participants at the tumour board wear headsets, he added. In order to plan the operation, the radiologist and the surgeons are currently viewing the anatomy from several viewpoints and angles.
Tsai’s research, however, is primarily concerned with using VR to visit patients and provide them with greater relaxation.
According to studies, there is a bigger effect when clinical trials are presented in the patient’s neighbourhood, like a church or a barbershop, than when such discussions take place in a clean, modern cancer facility. Tsai claims that when patients are placed in a virtual setting that resembles one, they are more likely to recognise, and remember the topics covered during sessions.
As none of them can go out to the churches or the barbershops, he added, the idea was discovered to have the potential to promote contact between clinicians and their patients in a way that would have been impossible.
Tsai intends to encourage members of historically marginalised populations in medicine to participate in clinical investigations by using VR to establish a more pleasant atmosphere.
According to him, patients will not benefit fully from prospective medicines if they are not included in these studies.
For example, a 2022 study conducted by the American Medical Association discovered that blood-oxygen values in people with darker complexions are frequently erroneous and may affect the standard of care they get.
According to Tsai, although people have shown fascination with VR in medicine, they are unclear of the exact advantages. The technology has become more and more well-liked as a tool for treating physical pain in the past few years. Post-traumatic stress disorder and dementia are two ailments that it may cure.
Tsai is excited about virtual reality’s future and its possible uses in medicine.
The speaker continued by stating that the VR effort is an excellent illustration of how technology specialists working with medical professionals may speed up the attention and care of patients.
