Virtual Reality in Healthcare: Revolutionizing Patient Care

Experience the power of virtual reality in healthcare as it transforms medical training, patient care, and treatment methods with immersive technology for better accuracy, efficiency, and improved outcomes.

Virtual reality in healthcare is no longer just science fiction—it’s transforming the way doctors train, diagnose, and treat patients. Imagine a surgeon perfecting delicate procedures in a risk-free virtual environment or a patient managing chronic pain by immersing themselves in a calming digital world. With applications ranging from simulated surgery training to pain management and rehabilitation, VR is revolutionizing medical care, making treatments more precise and patient experiences more comfortable.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2022, the global VR healthcare market was valued at $628 million, and it’s projected to skyrocket to $6.2 billion by 2029, growing at an astonishing CAGR of 38.7%. As VR technology advances, hospitals and medical institutions worldwide are integrating it into their daily operations, proving that this innovation is more than just a trend—it’s the future of healthcare.

But how exactly is VR being used in the medical field? In this article, we’ll explore the key applications of VR in healthcare, its impact on patient care, and why it’s quickly becoming an essential tool for medical professionals across the globe.

What is Virtual Reality in Healthcare?

Virtual Reality is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online but entire experiences and adventures.

— Mark Zuckerberg

Virtual reality has been around for a while. Technology has penetrated the healthcare industry as a result of improvements. Through its immersive digital experiences, virtual reality (VR) is transforming healthcare by giving medical professionals and students the ability to practice the most difficult procedures on simulated patients without taking any risks. Additionally, by producing comprehensive visualizations of patient data, virtual reality aids in diagnosis, enabling medical personnel to make more accurate diagnoses.

The potential of virtual reality today has multiple applications in the medical field. For instance, it teaches medical skills by illustrating typical events and scenarios that may occur in real-world settings. To train experts, conduct surgeries, or deliver medical education remotely, the majority of the world's top hospitals and medical schools have used virtual reality applications. It includes teaching students essential communication skills, using virtual visualization to explain internal body organs, and problem-oriented learning.

Virtual reality is recognized to alleviate chronic pain in individuals recuperating from any illness 

or in situations when the use of pain medication or anesthesia is not appropriate by diverting patients' attention.

Assistance with physical therapy and rehabilitation for patients who struggle to exercise due to discomfort is another instance of virtual reality in the medical industry. Through the use of particular visual aids, sounds, and feelings, virtual reality (VR) encourages and stimulates them to finish their physical activity by diverting their focus from discomfort.

Understanding the Role of Virtual Reality in Healthcare

Patients and professionals can both gain from VR technology. Personalized care can become independent of a clinician's subjective expertise or gut feeling using virtual reality. Modern medicine relies heavily on this type of human-computer interaction (HCI), highlighting the difference between AR, MR, and VR in medical applications.

VR for professionals: Healthcare workers should employ virtual reality (VR) medical technologies to aid doctors individually and better serve their patients. Clinicians will be able to provide more effective care because of the device's user-friendliness and strong processing capacity. In the end, this will improve patient care, increase revenue, and save the healthcare sector money.

VR for patients: The use of virtual reality technology could significantly enhance patient care. Virtual reality (VR) can imitate and communicate a patient's experience of presence in a cozy, "video-game-like" environment, in contrast to movies or other 2D media, which are, by definition, non-interactive. It is actually possible for a person to enter an unrealized world and experience the sensation of being physically present in it.

Top Four Impact Areas of Virtual Reality in Healthcare

The idea behind virtual reality in healthcare is the use of computer-simulated worlds, which are viewed through goggles or a headset, to enhance some parts of medical treatment and provide advantages or enhancements not possible through conventional methods. 

The following four areas are supported in virtual reality in healthcare market:

1. Mental Health Care

The field of mental health care is arguably the one that stands to gain the most from virtual reality. By immersing a patient in a new setting, virtual reality headsets can provide the immersion that previous treatment methods lacked. 

There are two branches of this. The capacity to provide mentally vulnerable individuals with a safe means of experiencing and exploring the world without endangering themselves or others is the first. The second and more crucial factor has to do with therapy. "Situations that are impractical or impossible to recreate — e.g.,  fear of flying, or the harrowing events that can lie behind PTSD — can be conjured at the click of a mouse."

Beyond this intense therapeutic period, virtual reality technology could be used for a variety of additional therapies, including depression, PTSD, and dementia, to mention a few. 16 NHS trusts are currently using VR software, and this figure is expected to rise quickly in the upcoming years, according to the Mail on Sunday.

2. Clinical Training

Clinical training can also benefit from virtual reality. Without posing any harm to patients, simulations faithfully replicate real-life situations. This translates into a safer learning environment for junior clinicians and students. By enabling physicians, particularly surgeons, to do a virtual investigation prior to an operation, Universal Health Services compared the use to that of a pilot using a flight simulator program.

3. Education

Clinical training and education are closely intertwined, but education can help patients and their families as well as medical professionals. Simulated computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a fantastic tool for helping patients visualize a condition since it provides more detail about the care plan or treatment that a clinician has in place for them. 

Screen learning, 360-degree video, and interactive virtual reality (VR) are the three virtual reality healthcare education solutions. Pharmaceutical researchers AbbVie used the latter to create a Parkinson's disease simulator that allowed clinicians to experience firsthand the challenges of the condition.

The involvement is especially beneficial for kids. The introduction of an interactive app by Sheffield Children's Hospital to allow users to tour the hospital environment before arriving is a fantastic example of how to lessen anxiety and the stress associated with hospital visits. In addition to providing parents with checklists and more information to assist them in keeping their kids calm, the Little Journey app is free.

4. Physical Therapy

Physical therapy is the last healthcare application of virtual reality. It can be challenging to involve patients in their care, a process known as patient activation, but virtual reality provides support.  

A study conducted by the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology Lab (HITLab) on virtual reality (VR) and physical therapy revealed that VR's immersive qualities improved patient engagement and perseverance, lowered pain levels, and accelerated recovery. 

Benefits of Virtual Reality in Medicine Industry

Without the advantages of deploying this new technology, we wouldn't be discussing virtual reality applications in healthcare. The immersion VR offers users is its main selling point, and in the healthcare industry, this benefits both patients and professionals.

The usage of virtual reality technology in healthcare facilities and assisted living facilities enhances the simulated experience and efficacy of the simulation by bringing it far closer to real life than any fake scenario now in use. Additionally, the engaging manner helps maintain the user's focus when utilizing VR equipment, which usually results in better outcomes. 

The applications of virtual reality in healthcare, including mental health treatment, clinical education, patient education, and physical therapy, have already been covered. We shall go into more detail on why it ought to be used below.

1. Training in healthcare using virtual reality

Modern healthcare delivery can greatly benefit from virtual reality training for medical personnel. Training is accelerated by VR's engagement factor, enabling on-the-job training. This is highly adaptable when attempting to balance education and training with a clinician's daily responsibilities, and in the end, the combination increases the efficacy of personal development.

However, developing soft skills like bedside manners, empathy, and emotional connection is one of the main advantages. Due to their limited exposure to the range of patient scenarios, younger physicians have historically struggled with these abilities, which require years to master. This emotional engagement is immediately triggered by a virtual reality healthcare simulation, allowing soft skills to be developed more quickly. 

The future of VR training will involve augmented reality and mixed reality simulations, but for now, the technology is more than adequate; it can be used with a computer, a smartphone app, and a headset.

2. Virtual reality in healthcare education

As previously said, there are many areas where virtual reality training and education overlap, but education also helps patients and others around them in a care or recovery setting.

Stress is known to be a barrier to patient satisfaction, clinician trust, and care recovery. These anxieties can be alleviated in healthcare teaching through virtual reality simulations. According to the NHS, "Patients are willing to follow post-operative instructions better when they understand the reasons behind them and see the effects they have on the healing." Visual depiction is also far more successful than spoken or written explanations.

3. Virtual reality and mental health therapy 

As the world recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health treatment is becoming an increasingly important component of contemporary healthcare. Psychiatrists, counselors, and therapists can better engage patients and securely address the underlying issues they are facing in a richer environment with virtual reality treatment. Although phobias like spiders or heights are the most visible, there is also a high risk of PTSD and conditions like eating disorders.

Forbes reports that 2022 research in JMIR Serious Games found that virtual reality therapy, such as VRET, had a success rate of 66% to 90% for those with PTSD when used to supplement cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).  

Since the 1990s, efforts have also been made to address the psychosomatic aspects of pain management. The goal here is to acknowledge that the body and brain determine what pain is and how tolerable it is, not to minimize a patient's suffering. It makes sense to lessen the discomfort by giving the brain something else to do, like a virtual reality simulation. Once more, the aforementioned Forbes article cites data showing a 35–50% decrease in discomfort.

4. Virtual Reality Therapy Benefits

Although physical therapy is equally as vital as mental health therapy, it can be discouraging at first. Recovery can be hampered by debilitating causes such as humiliation, self-consciousness, fear of failure, shock from losing function or mobility, and more.

The report of Very Well Health discusses the value of "taking a novel and fun approach to care" to promote involvement in rehabilitation. The NHS and other providers appear to be following suit, aiming to use virtual reality (VR) to promote patient involvement and concentration. 

Healthcare professionals aim to take advantage of this new form of interaction of VR in therapy by offering patients, whether young or elderly, engaging experiences and activities that they otherwise wouldn't have. Imagine stretching on a Caribbean beach or strolling along the Great Wall of China. They're definitely more enticing than in your living room or in a hospital.

The Impact of Virtual Reality on Healthcare Transformation

Despite being frequently linked to gaming, virtual reality (VR) is a cutting-edge technology with the potential to transform a wide range of sectors. In the fields of surgery, pain management, physical and cognitive rehabilitation, mental health, and more, professionals are investigating the innovative ways that virtual reality (VR) might help patients and healthcare professionals achieve better treatments and outcomes.

1. Increasing the Effectiveness of Surgery

Before executing an operation, physicians can digitally examine a patient's brain and body thanks to cutting-edge virtual reality gear being used by George Washington University for neurosurgery and thoracic surgery. Better situation awareness and surgical efficiency are the outcomes. Additionally, operations can be better understood in advance by patients and their families. According to a Harvard Business Review research, when compared to conventional techniques, VR training increased participants' total surgical performance by 230%.

Additionally, UConn Health is using VR products from Oculus and PrecisionOS to train its orthopedic surgery residents. In addition to giving surgeons priceless practice opportunities, this also saves time and money because typical cadaver practice only permits residents to do specific procedures once.

2. Developing Compassion

Virtual reality simulations are also being used by some hospitals to assist physicians in better grasping the experiences of their patients. A migraine headache, Parkinson's disease, dementia, and other illnesses can all be simulated using virtual reality. For instance, research on aging services training revealed that virtual reality (VR) improved students' comprehension of age-related health issues and heightened their compassion for elderly people suffering from Alzheimer's disease or eyesight and hearing loss.

3. Reducing Pain

Virtual reality has shown itself to be a useful technique for pain management. According to research from Cedars-Sinai Hospital, a virtual reality experience can lessen discomfort by at least 24%. Additionally, people with acute and chronic pain, laboring mothers, and others can benefit from VR applications. Virtual reality therapy frequently lessens or eliminates the need for prescription treatments.

By allowing them to escape into virtual worlds and activities, virtual reality headsets are also being used to assist sick and injured kids in coping with their therapies. Virtual reality genuinely helps patients feel less pain and worry by diverting their attention from their discomfort. According to a University of Washington study, burn patients who were distracted by virtual reality (VR) reported feeling much less pain, and fMRI brain scans showed a significant decrease in pain-related brain activity while using the technology.

4. Improving Physical Therapy Interventions

Virtual reality has proven to be a useful treatment option for people who require physical rehabilitation. VR can replicate exact physical movements and offer extra motivation for workouts through applications like motion-enabled games. All settings might be changed by therapists to customize programs for their patients. Additionally, patients can digitally practice everyday skills like grocery shopping and dishwashing with VR rehab.

VR has also been discovered to be a helpful therapeutic approach that can greatly enhance motor skills in kids with cerebral palsy.

5. Enhancing Cognitive and Memory Abilities

VR technology is being used by several firms, such as MyndVR and Rendever, to help elders with sociability, rehabilitation therapy, and memory and cognitive function. Research has demonstrated that virtual reality (VR) interventions can enhance cognitive and motor performance, particularly in the areas of attention and execution, member, global cognition, and balance, in older persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Studies have shown that by boosting sensory input and encouraging multimodal integration and processing, virtual reality (VR) may enhance the benefits of conventional therapies in cognitive rehabilitation efforts, especially for conditions like multiple sclerosis (MS) and spatial difficulties following a stroke.

How is Virtual Reality Used in the Healthcare Sector?

VR has several uses in the healthcare sector, ranging from enhancing mental health to preparing future physicians. Let's examine some of the most remarkable applications of virtual reality technology and how it improves people's lives.

1. Training in medicine

To become qualified, medical students and future physicians must practice. They can learn the basics and specifics of a variety of operations through high-quality virtual reality training. Technology can put students inside human bodies so they can see and practice in areas that are difficult to reach. As a result, VR is particularly helpful for developing surgical training simulators.

The Johnson & Johnson Institute, for instance, started a worldwide VR training program in 2018. The purpose of this curriculum is to instruct medical students, nurses, and surgeons on medical procedures. As of right now, the company wants to take the program globally, and in collaboration with Osso VR, a startup, they intend to begin gathering training performance data in order to quantify and document the good outcomes.

2. Pain control and management

VR is also a very good way to relieve pain. The basic idea of pain management is always the same despite variations in intricacy. Prior to administering the appropriate medicine, the nerves causing the discomfort must first be identified. A number of medications for muscle or nerve therapies may be part of more involved operations. VR is a useful supplement to other techniques since it has been shown to have healing properties of its own that reduce the need for medicine.

Virtual reality therapy is more than just an advanced method of diversion. When a patient is immersed in an environment that is engaging, soothing, and interactive, their brain is fully occupied, leaving no space for pain. As part of its pain management program, AppliedVR, one of the industry pioneers, uses virtual reality (VR) with remarkable outcomes. Multisensory experiences have been shown to reduce self-reported pain levels by up to 50%. This is among the factors contributing to the ongoing growth in funding for research into VR as a therapeutic.

3. Psychological and mental health treatment

Mental health care is another area in which virtual reality is being used in healthcare. According to a study by psychology professor Matthew Tull of the University of Toledo, virtual reality exposure therapy works well for treating the behavioral symptoms of PTSD. 

PTSD is characterized by anxiety, nightmares, flashbacks, and altered perception. VR is seen to be a useful supplement to exposure therapy, which helps lessen or completely eradicate these symptoms. People no longer need to visualize their horrific events because of the technology's immersive and sensory qualities.

Virtual reality can also be used to treat anxiety disorders and phobias that impact millions of people worldwide. Exposure treatment in virtual reality can help prevent or lessen panic attacks and other symptoms of anxiety. Businesses like Limbix and Psious collaborate with researchers and medical professionals to provide a variety of situations that patients can experience. These situations give people the chance to confront their concerns, practice overcoming them, and unwind.

4. Virtual reality for children

Children can be distracted from the discomfort of blood testing, flu injections, and other medical procedures with the use of virtual reality healthcare solutions. Young patients can manage their worries and anxiety more readily by using virtual reality goggles, which transport them to a completely different environment.

A promising therapeutic approach, virtual reality has already shown remarkable efficacy for a variety of disorders. This unconventional approach to amusement and relaxation is a component of Texas Children's Hospital's CHARIOT program, which stands for Childhood Anxiety Reduction via Innovation and Technology. Its goal is to lessen patients' discomfort and anxiety before surgery. 

The Starlight Children's Foundation has started another initiative that is having an effect on the childcare industry. More than 300 healthcare facilities have received more than 1,000 Lenovo MirageTM Solo VR headsets since 2018, which has improved the hospital stay for thousands of kids.

5. Dental care

Both dental professionals and patients can benefit from virtual reality. Patients can relax and disengage from the treatment by donning virtual reality headsets in place of safety glasses. Because of dental anxiety, up to 20% of Americans delay going to the doctor. Distraction is the most effective coping strategy for them. They feel more relaxed and at peace when they are in a digital environment.

Conversely, new VR training courses for dentistry professionals and students are being developed using VR technology. A 3D representation of the teeth is first acquired in an effort to replicate a genuine patient in virtual reality. The original intraoral scan is then used as the basis for a haptic model. 

Lastly, a virtual reality (VR) haptic dental simulator is used to train the model. Despite being a relatively recent discovery in the area, patient-centered training in virtual reality has shown promising results; thus, it is likely that this new training module in dental education will be widely used.

The Top 4 Applications of Virtual Reality in Healthcare

Many medical practitioners are finding that virtual reality (VR) makes it easier to perform surgeries, educate patients, support rehabilitation therapy, and handle back-office tasks. We compiled a list of some notable VR applications in healthcare to give you an idea of how businesses are assisting in making that happen.

1. Promoting Empathy in Medical Personnel

Empathy is fostered by VR's immersive qualities, which make it simpler to experience the world from another person's perspective. Embodied Labs creates interactive 360-degree virtual reality videos so that viewers can experience a patient's point of view.

Users take on the role of Alfred, a 74-year-old man with high-frequency hearing loss and macular degeneration, in one of the company's original labs. "Students would put on the headset and exclaim, 'There's something broken, I can't see,' even though they had read in their introduction that they would play Alfred. Otherwise, Shaw remarked, "Turn up the volume, I can't hear," and then understood that was the point.  

By increasing their awareness of the consequences of a condition and how it affects a patient's behavior, these interactive experiences can help caregivers better meet the requirements of their patients.

2. Gamification of Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy

In addition to making rehabilitation and physical therapy more interesting for patients, virtual reality and gaming technology help strengthen muscles such as those in the wrists and shoulders.

This approach has been used by InMotion, which has adopted a therapeutic paradigm focused on gamification and virtual reality in healthcare. Doctors can collect motion data while patients play virtual games using the company's Corpus VR platform. By adjusting the amount of difficulty for each level, medical providers can push patients to work harder at a manageable pace.

3. Developing Better Mental Health Interventions

VR in healthcare has developed into a practical mental health tool for phobia treatment. By using simulations, healthcare professionals can gradually increase a patient's tolerance by exposing them to a frightening circumstance or object in small doses. Additionally, this idea can be applied to more severe illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  

Through its Bravemind project, the University of Southern California has investigated the potential of virtual reality (VR) to treat PTSD in sexual assault survivors and war veterans. Users are progressively exposed to environments that make them face repressed memories and feelings. Additionally, individuals are asked to describe what they recall, and medical personnel can manipulate the virtual environment to replicate an action or occurrence as the user describes it.

4. Treatments for Improving Memory and Cognitive Function

Beyond just being amusing, virtual reality and gaming have several benefits for healthcare. Virtual reality games may actually improve memory, according to some academics, and e-learning corporations are embracing the technology. 

In an effort to give students more individualized and interesting learning experiences, Librarium combines captivating teachings with virtual settings and memory palace strategies. It is hoped that students will feel more at ease learning in online settings and retain information better.

The Cost of Virtual Reality in Medical Field

"While simulation is becoming central to healthcare education, it requires significantly more resources than traditional education," cautions the National Library of Medicine (NLM) of the US government. Additional resources are difficult to come by at a time when healthcare systems and educational institutions around the world are grappling with rising demands and constrained budgets.

However, because virtual reality in the healthcare industry is still in its infancy, it is difficult to estimate precise utilization and investment costs. Using single-provider costings rather than an industry average, the NLM makes a rough estimate of setup expenses of approximately £758,300 and fixed costs of approximately £275,000.

However, we can more accurately predict the size of the virtual reality healthcare business, as it has been projected that it will reach $18.7 billion by 2028 (£14.7 billion or €17.1 billion).

Looking Ahead: The Future of Virtual Reality in Healthcare 

One of the technologies that has the most room to expand in the future is virtual reality. These days, VR applications allow users to fully manage their senses, including sight, hearing, and sensations, which creates a realistic atmosphere.

Other characteristics, such as touch and scent, are anticipated to be added to VR applications in the future to enhance the perception of a genuine setting. Furthermore, in order to remove the barrier to VR use, VR gadgets or electronic equipment will also grow lighter and less expensive in the future. So, for now, it is safe to say that the future of VR technology is safe and ready to take the high jump. 

Summing Up

We can now successfully say and believe how VR is revolutionizing telemedicine. Virtual reality is changing healthcare today; it is no longer merely a sci-fi idea. From pain management to surgical training, virtual reality presents innovative approaches to enhance patient care and results. We are just starting to see the full potential of virtual reality in healthcare, and the possibilities are unlimited as technology develops.

Virtual reality (VR) is a potent tool in modern medicine, whether it is used to train the next generation of surgeons, help patients manage chronic pain, or offer creative ways to interact with patients. We can anticipate even more fascinating advancements in the future as more healthcare providers use this technology.