VR has a lot of different applications beyond the gaming world, but, oddly, most of the integrations are very game like. Rather than having competing technologies, we’re going to list the most prominent VR tools developed by specific industries during this year. These tools will be specifically geared towards influencing the recovery of a patient. The reason for this type of selection is due to the fact that VR/AR/MR are all very new to the medical world and it isn’t readily accepting of its applications, which is understandable because they’re doctors. You can consider each of these recipients of their own VR Awards.
Surgery with No Live Patients
There’s no doubt that many people find surgery to be a edgy subject. I know, puns, but in reality most of the worry comes from whether the surgeon will be able to do a good job or if they have a good track record. This all stems from whether the surgeon was trained to do their job very well. VR helps surgeons in multiple ways in both training, teaching, and experience. Instead of attending a live surgery, a student can go through a simulated surgery to learn a lot more than they would have if they were just an assistant. Assistants have to help in the action in order to be close enough to learn, which means they’ll have to do something different while they are learning. With simulated surgery, not only can the student spend their entire time learning but they can also work on the simulated patient to gain virtual experience before they ever have to touch a real life.
VR Psychology Visits
This one is obvious, but there’s no actual video to show for it. Essentially, psychologists have begun testing VR in applications where the psychologist no longer needs to be physically present to help patients work through issues. Two years ago development was in place to improve the lives of those who had irrational phobias and now psychologists are determining if a patient can be treated without physically going to an office. There’s even implications of the patient not needing to disclose their identity in order to receive treatment as a lot of untreated patients go untreated because they don’t want to be seen going to a psychologist.
Gastronomy – Guilty Eating with No Consequences: Project Nourished
Nutritionists have found a way to change the flavor of food on the molecular level to taste the thing we want when we’re actually eating something completely healthy. This has several implications, such as individuals being able to eat things they would normally be completely allergic to or people who over indulge being able to indulge without ever needing to worry about calories. This also has ecological impacts as this means we could produce more sustainable and healthier options than if were to have a garden or a crop. We could leave the land to grow on its own while making our own food out of factories so that we could buy whatever food we wanted without damaging the environment. Just ignore the fact that it looks like Soylent Green.
Beyond that, most other practices either cannot employ VR to their benefit or attempt to provide tours of their facilities. Very few hospitals are utilizing VR in treating patients as Virtual Reality is limited as to what it can do. Due to its unrefined natural, most practices believe it needs to be developed more in order to be used in any medical capacity in terms of live patients.
