How Virtual Reality May Change Medical Education And Save Lives

Forbes ^ | May 22, 2015 | Robert Glatter, MD

[2ndDivisionVet]

Practice makes perfect.

The old adage applies to many aspects of our life in a variety of ways.

Practicing your backhand, learning a dance move, or rehearsing your speech.

But where it may matter the most is for medical professionals who perform lifesaving interventions or procedures for patients in emergency departments or in the operating room.

The reality is that there are some lifesaving procedures in emergency medicine that you rarely perform–but must always be ready to perform in a split second.

One such a procedure–known as cricothyrotomy–which involves making an incision into a specific area of patient’s neck and inserting a plastic tube through a thin membrane into the trachea—requires accuracy and speed, and can be lifesaving if performed correctly, but deadly if not completed in a timely or improper fashion. Other life-saving skills including intubation, central line and intraosseous catheter placement also require practice and repetition in order to save lives.

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in the use of simulation medicine to help physicians gain preparation for performing lifesaving procedures as well as approaching delicate or difficult situations related to patient care....

[Jonty30]

I’d be most interested in learning skills through virtual reality.

[Apple Pan Dowdy]

There have been very real and fantastic advances in VR lately. My son bought a "developer" kit of the Oculus Rift when it came out (available presently only to a limited number of developers, but soon to be available to the general public. He has been experimenting with developing software for it that would be useful in schools for history and literature classes.

He is still hoping to find a company that will invest in his ideas, as he has gone about as far as he can without more money and more advanced VR animation talent to work on it. On his website you can download and view what it looks like your computer monitor WITHOUT the Oculus Rift device. But until you see it with the device in actual Virtual Reality you can't imagine just how "real" it is.

I spent an hour one day with the Oculus Rift device, immersed in a an underwater scuba experience developed by one of his colleagues. The sound is there and the bubbles from my "air tank" were so "real" that I kept turning away from them to clear vision of what was in front of me. When a shark swam past, heart rate sped up and there was a very "real" reaction to back away behind a reef. It was so amazing that I actually got a bit sea-sick from the simulated motion of the water and could not stand up while doing it because my body felt like it was floating in the water.

Presently the Rift's technology requires controlling most motions with a gaming controller, but they are working on more realistic controls. Already they have a built in GPS that causes turning of your head to actually look to the side and even behind you. Imagine that if you were watching a 3D movie and you could turn around and see what is behind you within the movie.... that experience puts you "inside" the movie and it is happening all around you. They are working on adding hand, arm and leg motions for future versions so we will be able to walk through the simulations, touching things with our hands. At that point then the medical training mentioned in the posted article will be very possible and "real".

Here is my son's website if you are interested in seeing his projects..... www.projecttimetravel.com

[Awgie]

Fantastic work. Good luck to your son. Must be very exciting as he ventures forward.