Children’s Hospital Taps Into VR to Enhance Patient Procedures
The use of virtual reality (VR) to assist young kids during medical operations has been growing at Children’s Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. This effort is spearheaded by the hospital’s Gaming Technology Department, which uses VR and games to reduce the anxiety and suffering that are frequently connected to medical procedures.
To help kids in many ways, the department uses a variety of cutting-edge technology, such as video games, virtual reality, robots, and 3D printing. Recreational play, 3D-printed personalised adaptive options, and VR games made for certain medical conditions are all included in this. For young patients, the goal is to make operations less frightening and easier to handle.
Jackson Zagel is one of the patients who benefit from this technique. He receives monthly intravenous infusions as part of his therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, an uncommon genetic illness that shortens lifespan and weakens musculature. Although these infusions are sometimes unpleasant, they are essential in helping his muscles fight atrophy.
Jackson plays the virtual reality game Rush while he does his surgeries. Through a variety of landscapes, including valleys and snow-capped mountains, the game transports him to a paragliding adventure. While the medical staff implants his IV, he may play with just his head motions thanks to the VR headgear.
Before virtual reality, Jackson’s sessions were difficult, necessitating the use of deep breathing and methods of relaxation to bear the discomfort. Sarah Christensen, his mother, remembers how taxing the procedure was for the whole family. However, by reducing Jackson’s sense of pain, virtual reality has changed these experiences and made them much simpler for him.
The method makes use of supersensory proprioception, a neurological phenomenon. This effect happens when the brain is so absorbed in the virtual reality environment that it finds it difficult to comprehend pain and other real-world experiences. VR successfully lessens the severity of sensations of pain during operations by flooding the brain with visual and audio stimuli.
Along with its useful advantages, virtual reality (VR) adds entertainment value and serves as a diversion, allowing kids to concentrate on captivating virtual experiences rather than the actual process. In addition to lowering tension and suffering, it alters Jackson’s and other patients’ perceptions of the entire procedure.
As part of its ongoing innovation, Children’s Hospital uses virtual reality (VR) to make medical care more approachable and pleasurable for its young patients. They are reinventing the story of paediatric care with the use of advanced gaming technologies.
