It was bound to happen. Technology and the computer age have already infiltrated our health care system in many ways, but a new one may be the use of virtual reality. Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles issued a study (a randomized controlled trial) on inpatient virtual reality use. The trials were in three areas: eating disorders, rehabilitation (motor and cognitive), and pain management.
In general, the trials showed clinical efficacy, although the small sizes of the samples made it difficult to reach far-reaching conclusions. Inpatient pain management was the most successful. As one report asked, “have you ever lain down on a hospital bed counting the days until you are released?” The report described how the team at Cedars-Sinai “introduced VR worlds to their patients to help them release stress and reduce pain.” Using the special goggles, they could ignore the four walls of the hospital and the impact of hospital routine while visiting amazing landscapes in Iceland, participating in the work of an art studio, or swimming together with whales in the deep blue ocean.
Other studies have investigated the use of virtual reality with traumatic brain injury patients, and another looked at stroke rehab with virtual reality. The “brain-body” connection has new meaning when your virtual reality brain can take you to far-away places.
The use of this device can have major impact on children in hospitals. “The experience in a hospital is even more stressful and mentally burdening for small children who miss their parents, their best buddies, their favorite blanket and generally, the soothing environment called home.”
But a Dutch study has found that a smart-phone and virtual glasses can make live contact possible with a 360 degree camera at the patient’s home, school or special occasions such as a birthday celebration or a football game. Though hospitalized, young patients can relax and still enjoy their lives.
Looking forward to your next stay in a hospital? Stay tuned as technology keeps developing new ways to change your ordinary reality, however depressing, to a more interesting one.
