Virtual Reality in Healthcare Safety Training – Innovating & Empowering

Virtual Reality (VR) is superseding all the expectations and possibilities while transforming the lives of people in an unprecedented manner. As we have already stated before, the range of application for this technology is immensely diverse which ranges from gaming, real estate, education, military, tourism and medical. The Virtual Reality acts a ‘dream fulfiller’ for countless individuals in multiple ways in the aforementioned sectors. But, in this piece, we will specifically talk about its usage and benefits in healthcare safety training. We will also try to explain the several innovations that it has brought in the healthcare industry in a very short span of time with minimum risk factor involved.

First and foremost, Virtual Reality is an exemplary tool for diagnosing critical diseases. As evident, diagnosis is immensely essential to cure a deadly disease and hence, the technology plays an instrumental role in it. The safety training in VR is almost akin to the reality and  the doctors are able to ascertain all the necessary data to figure out the disease. Although, it is not at all easy and not 100 percent accurate but still it comes handy in emergency situations as it is far better than the 2d pictures and videos. In certain cases, patients are hesitant to undergo a crucial surgery citing the lack of experience and confidence in doctor’s skills so in such conditions, virtual reality acts as savior. The doctor can practice the surgery on the required equipments as many times until he/she is fully satisfied to perform it on the patient.

One of the biggest advantages Virtual Reality Safety Training is that it minimizes the cost up to a great extent which is involved in the healthcare in real world conditions. One of less known advantage of safety training with Virtual Reality is that it has no logistical hurdles and thus, it saves a lot of time for the nurses and doctors which subsequently results in better work-life balance. Furthermore, an individual can practice any particular training framework as many times as he/she wishes to in order to attain complete proficiency and competency. Also, doctors work as team during a surgery to ensure the safety and recovery of a patient, so with the help of VR, they can have better coordination and management among themselves.

Training in healthcare is performed by exquisite equipments which come at a relatively higher cost and VR helps it in reducing this cost. There are several incidents not just limited to India but globally where people, doctors and healthcare experts have hailed Virtual Reality’s contribution in the empowerment of healthcare training. Predominantly, in case of a broken bone, fractured bone and dislodged bone, VR helps a lot. The orthopedicians take help of VR to study the case and find the possible solutions for fixing the bone while managing the pain of the patient. It was found that interns who underwent surgery training through VR performed it twice efficiently than the interns who went through conventional training.

Talking specifically about Indian hospitals, doctors have started using Virtual Reality Solution for cancer treatment and creating medical awareness. Recently, the doctors operated a young female and carried out surgery to take out a 2-inch tumor from the hip area. The next step for recovery and rehabilitation was a certain set of painful exercises. So, in order to soften down the pain, the doctors didn’t advise painkillers but Virtual Reality. The patient, in her recovery phase, while performing the painful exercises, used to put her VR headset and watch car assembly videos as she was an auto aficionado. Thus, virtual reality helped her to be fit again without going through any pain. The doctors claimed that VR therapy has reduced the pain factor by up to 40 percent in the patients.

While speaking to a few senior doctors, we found out that Virtual Reality can be of immense use in some particular procedural treatments such as the anesthesia. It is a high-tech solution to cure diseases with precision while also managing the pain and sufferings of the patients. The VR simulators come across as extremely useful tool in healthcare training. For complex surgeries that occur rarely, VR can be deployed for surgeons to train and practice. Moreover, this tech also facilitates a large group of doctors who are in different locations to practice and engage together in a virtual workplace. Hence, Virtual Reality has got enormous potential and there is still a lot to be explored about it in healthcare training which could yield tremendous benefits.

Virtual Reality saves patients time and money as they are no longer required to visit hospitals and clinics to receive physiotherapy instead they can get it done at home by putting the VR headset. Even it is being deployed to educate the acid attack victims by the plastic surgeons and doctors have stated that face can be reconstructed but the victims have to stay strong and VR helps a lot in it.