Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Medical students receive more practical experience with VR.

You may have read about augmented reality in the article, “Improve Surgery and Patient Care with Augmented Reality,” but do you know the difference between augmented and virtual reality?

Virtual reality, or VR, is a technology that creates a 3D, computer-generated world where you can explore and interact with the environment. You’ll use interactive devices, usually a headset, goggles, gloves, or controllers, to become immersed in and investigate your simulated surroundings.

VR is different from augmented reality in the fact that AR places an image over a view of your real-world environment, whereas VR creates an entirely simulated world to interact with.

Train Medical Students with VR to Care for Alzheimer’s Patients

Virtual reality is taking off in several healthcare areas, but one that stands out is with persons with Alzheimer’s disease. The Department of Geriatrics and the Department of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at SUNY Upstate Medical University are designing an Alzheimer’s patient care training program using VR.

“While healthcare will always be a bedside practice — person-to-person contact can’t be replaced, in my opinion — it’s only natural that as our world evolves technologically, technology can and should be used to advance this practice of connection between people,” says Christopher J. Norman, MSN, APRN, APHN-BC, GNP-BC, Geriatric Nurse Practitioner & Advanced Practice Holistic Nurse at Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly of Central New York (PACE CNY) in Syracuse, New York.

In the training program, a virtual world is created to train medical, nursing, and physician assistant students in caring for patients. Students create their own avatars, engage in activities, and move throughout the 3D environment. The pilot program allows students to receive hands-on, albeit virtual, training with simulations of the patients they’ll care for after completing their studies. This virtual training is a significant increase in practical experience when compared to SUNY Upstate’s current curriculum, which is “a block of didactic lectures during a half day symposium during their second year (URL: www.upstate.edu/geriatrics/research/virtual-alz.php).”

“As telehealth has exploded onto the scene [during the COVID-19 pandemic] and we as healthcare professionals are navigating different ways to connect with the people that are distanced from us, many of us have seen the value in virtual modalities. Virtual reality, particularly in the training of healthcare workers, seems to me like an excellent substitute when person-to-person isn’t possible. By simulating caring in a variety of situations — some that might not be accessible easily otherwise — the practice of caring is still advanced,” Norman says.

Stay tuned to Tech & Innovation in Healthcare for more news about the use of VR in healthcare.