Virtual Reality, The Technological Breakthrough In Patient-Care
VR is taking over the medical industry, pushing it forward with more realistic treatments and education, not only for medical students but for patients and their relatives as well. Patients are better informed, and the doctor-patient relationship is enhanced with more empathy and understanding from both sides. As the medical fraternity becomes more aware of treatments for particular diseases, VR images are being used to show patients exactly how the treatment will affect or heal their bodies. This allows them and their families to make informed decisions while curbing their fears of the unknown.
Artificial Intelligence and Simulation technology aim to create environments that help transport patients into a space of virtual reality. VR is also becoming more conducive to patient care, enabling the medical industry to gain control over bigger global issues, epidemics, pandemics, and treatments.
Let us take you through a few ways VR is helping patients and their loved ones/families.
Educating the patient
A VR image using hyper-realistic CGI transports the patient inside his own body and gives him a 360-degree view of his own condition, helping patients feel prepared and educated on their condition. It shows the patient exactly what the disease looks like and how it is progressing inside their body. Clinical practitioners can also show the procedure and treatment of the disease in real-time. It is reassuring to the patient to get a clear picture of the procedures involved, allowing the patient to see exactly how the body reacts to the suggested treatment and its side effects. Various treatment options can also be presented, to enable informed decision-making on the mode of treatment.
Pain Management
VR is especially successful in the pain-management category. It is harmless and works on the mind, mental vision and strength of the patient. Once a patient is immersed in the metaverse, they can be virtually transported to a different environment. This shift in focus induced by the experience relaxes and distracts the patient, reducing their feelings of pain and anxiety. Research shows, VR can reduce pain by 24 per cent. This is particularly helpful in cases of physiotherapy and long-term treatments like chemotherapy or burns and can be used as an adjunctive therapy.
The OPIOID Crisis
One of the worst disasters of public health across the world, especially in Canada and the USA, is the Opioid crisis. Ironically it started with pain-killing medication prescribed by doctors themselves. As of recent studies, over 600,000 people have died of an overdose of these prescribed drugs. Pain-relief drugs were either prescribed for long periods of time or in high doses for shorter intervals. This short-term relief catapulted into life-threatening issues, turning the situation into an epidemic that the medical industry is still struggling to remedy.
With the help of AI, the medical industry is working on realistic CGI to create immersive experiences that distract a patient from on-going pain. It attracts the brain’s attention, leaving lesser brain receptors to process any pain signals. This follows the Gate theory of attention which states that “VR reduces the perception of pain by absorbing and diverting attention away from pain.”
Simulations aim at transporting the patient to soothing surroundings and distracting the mind with audio and visual stimuli. This exercise intends to temporarily make the patient forget their pain and therefore reduce the frequency or need of the pain-killer. These simulations can also be interactive, moving the patient away from their painful experience, and reducing their dependency on drugs. The non-pharmacological therapy trains the mind to tackle pain without the need for opioids.
Rehabilitation
VR works as an assistive technology for physical rehabilitation in patients. Programs are created to recover sensory and motor skills that a patient may have lost due to an accident or ailment. It creates an interactive domain similar to real life situations, generating sensory information artificially. It also provides therapy effectiveness, functional recovery and compliance through audio-visual feedback.
VR rehabilitation is a cost-effective solution which provides personalized therapies to patients at home with minimal therapist supervision. It motivates patients through recording personal benchmarks and victories and gaming concepts with a variety of dynamic and stimulating elements. VR glasses, auditory presentations and three-dimensional motion analysis makes the technology fun for patients. Rehabilitation is no longer a painful, boring and strenuous process.
Other methods include the following –
Physical Therapy
A range of exercises can be designed virtually according to patient-needs. They involve the patient in actual movement-inducing situations, encouraging the patient to develop and increase motor skills, balance, reflexes, agility, strength and mobility in the affected body parts. System designs enable movement specifications and also allow the user to change the training severity and structure.
Cognitive and Memory Functions
Just like for stroke patients, ailments like cerebral palsy, memory loss, dementia, paralysis and more can also be effectively treated through VR simulations. It helps in improving cognitive functions and memory through repetitive, stimulating visuals. Exercises through machine-run algorithms along with patient-progress, are monitored and adjusted accordingly, ensuring effective progress.
Mental Health
With VR simulations now, certain environments are created in the therapy room itself where the patient feels safer and protected. Patients with issues that are tough to recreate physically like fear of flying or PTSD, can now be conjured by digitally with a simple click of the mouse. A simulated environment can recreate a triggering scene along with regulatory prompting to immerse the patient into a stimulated action-reaction scenario.
Immersive simulations also help to curb symptoms of anger, paranoia, stress and agitation. VR can also provide a space of self-reflection and meditation with calming scenes and tranquillizing music or audio.
Conclusion
The Virtual Reality sector is rapidly growing at an astounding rate. From transforming healthcare to bridging the gap in remote exploration, this cutting-edge technology is pushing the boundaries of what's possible in India and globally. With the AR/VR market expected to reach $300 billion by 2024 as per mondaq.com in March 2023, the race is on to secure the game-changing ideas shaping this exciting field and thus is slated to soon penetrate various industries beyond the medical world.
Immersive Technology in forms of AR, VR, and Augmented Surgery are having definite positive impacts on patients and the medical industry as a whole. A myriad of possibilities is being created by those crafting Immersive Technology, where patients are becoming a part of this immersion process. Clarity, conversation, empathy, knowledge and education are allowing patients to be fearless about the unknown. These harmless, risk-free methods of VR treatments display an optimistic path for science, technology and medicine in the months to come.
