The technology is ready – however the technology alone is not enough to increase adoption and pervasive usage. What to do about it? Keep finding new problems – try to solve them and embed the tech to enable / solve that problem.

In healthcare this is possible and only imagination could help innovate the patients experience. At some hospitals in Europe and USA, they hired Chief Patient Experience Officer to look into this. From my research, I will share some of the pain points, problems and challenges that could be used by technology like virtual reality and augmented reality in improving patients experiences.

Healthcare equipments and tools have gone through massive innovation in terms of size, shape and sanity. Including operating procedures now focusing on non-invasive types of surgery to minimize post surgery recover and speed up the healing. However, if you are going for surgery or under the knife, regardless whatever the doctor going to tell you, what is your feeling like? To me, I still have sheer amount of nervousness and the negativity in my mind starts playing like movie Insidious!

Other than tele-medicine, using powerful 5G internet and distant, I am sharing how VR and AR change the landscape and patients experiences in healthcare space.

Virtual reality diagnostics. Virtual reality is often used as a diagnostic tool in that it enables doctors to arrive at a diagnosis in conjunction with other methods such as MRI scans. This removes the need for invasive procedures or surgery.

Virtual robotic surgery. A popular use of this technology is in robotic surgery. This is where surgery is performed by means of a robotic device – controlled by a human surgeon, which reduces time and risk of complications. Virtual reality has been also been used for training purposes and, in the field of remote telesurgery in which surgery is performed by the surgeon at a separate location to the patient.

Virtual reality for PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). The affected person wears a pair of virtual reality glasses or head mounted display (HMD). This contains two tiny monitors which display images of the source of their disorder, e.g. a battlefield. The rationale behind this is that exposing someone to the source of their condition combined with relaxation skills will enable them cope and adapt. As they are exposed to this over time the level of threat is removed which then decreases their anxiety levels and feelings of anxiety.

Surgery simulation. This is another branch of medicine where virtual reality is used to great effect. This technology is used to train surgeons in a range of surgical procedures, e.g. knee arthroscopy but without any risks. The trainee surgeon can be taught new and potentially dangerous techniques in an environment where they are able to make mistakes and learn from these.

Here I am sharing some videos of Augmented Reality, I try to write it, I think the video sends better message! 😉

Here’s another video on Augmented Reality done in Bern, Switzerland. FYI, Bern is the home of Albert Einstein “Einsteinhaus”! 😉

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