Michael Mackay
Karlianne Seri
WRT 102.72
9 April 2018
The Use of Virtual Reality in the Medical Field
Virtual reality is becoming increasingly relevant in modern society with many developments being made in the past couple of years. With developments in virtual reality for the consumer such as the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, virtual reality is affordable and more accessible to the public. While virtual reality is primarily used for entertainment, the technology is currently being tested in a variety of fields to determine its potential in fields other than entertainment with one of those fields being the medical field. Scientists and medical professionals are using the technology to determine whether or not virtual reality has use in the medical field. As of right now, VR (Virtual Reality) seems to have potential in the medical field which is why it is being researched to such a great extent. Virtual reality is currently useful and will be potentially useful in the medical field due to the effects it has on mental health problems such as eating disorders and anxiety, neurological problems, as well as the training of new medical personnel.
Virtual reality is shown to have an effect on mental health problems such as anxiety and eating disorders. Mental health is a glaring topic in the medical field as there are very few physical medications that can aid some people in these issues which makes the goal to solving mental health problems that much more important for medical professionals. Due to the fact that virtual reality is an immersive environment, medical professionals are able to project any image that they desire into the system, which allows the user to observe and interact with whatever the medical personnel wants. According to a study conducted by Dr. Giuseppe Riva, a researcher and professor of psychology in Milan, Italy, “VR can help address two key features of eating disorders and obesity that are not always adequately addressed by existing approaches: body experience disturbances and self-efficacy.” (Wiederhold, 9)*The Potential for VR to improve health care. From this study, it was found that virtual reality can help a patient suffering from eating disorders or obesity by teaching proper eating habits as well as promoting healthy body imagery and understanding in regards to what “normal” bodies should look like. The study showed a lot of promise with 77% of people who used this specific type of therapy stopping binge habits altogether, compared to 56% of people with more traditional methods of therapy. (Wiederhold, 9). This is due to the fact that virtual reality systems are able to produce such a clear and vivid image for the person in the system, which allows the software to produce a much better mental image than other forms of traditional therapy. Therefore, it appears that virtual reality seems to have use for those suffering from eating disorders, and it is shown to have use in other mental health problems such as anxiety, as well.
Virtual reality is also shown to have a positive results for treatment of anxiety. Anxiety is a disorder that plagues a large number of people but treatment for it can be difficult as it is difficult to control and correct once a person has it. Private communicative therapy is the most common form of combatting the mental illness, but it is not entirely effective. Anxiety also entails the concepts of phobias, which is the irrational fear of a person, place, or thing that could affect someone. Virtual reality has shown promise in regards to anxiety treatment that outperformed other methods of coping. A study conducted by Cristina Botella, a researcher at Universitat Jaume, on a 43 year old woman suffering from claustrophobia found that “The exposure by VR treatment was effective since the patient’s anxiety for closed spaces decreased, as can be observed from the measures taken before and after the treatment.” (Botella, 244)*Virtual reality treatment of claustrophobia: a case report. The results from this study showed that virtual reality essentially cured this womans’ fear of tight spaces that she has had since we was a child. This is due to the fact that virtual reality is used to pinpoint the exact stimuli in the brain that causes fear and allows the environment to affect that stimuli in such a way that the environment is safe but the brain is still affected. VRGET, or Virtual Reality Graded Exposure Therapy, is a method of therapy that is being researched heavily for its effects on anxiety patients. A controlled study in 1999 found that “VRGET proved to be more effective at promoting behavioral change than did imaginal exposure therapy.” (Wiederhold, 43). Imaginal exposure therapy is a method of treating anxiety that has been used by psychologists for a long period of time. This type of therapy involves the patient closing his or her eyes and visualizing the fear-inducing scene in their mind until they are eventually desensitized to it. (Wiederhold, 41). This type of therapy is certainly effective, but VRGET is able to produce a scenario for the user rather than forcing the user to produce the scenario themselves, which in turn makes the user more aware of the scenario and allows the projection to feel more natural, as if they were actually experiencing the event again. This is due to the highly immersive nature of virtual reality in which all of the sense can be triggered within the system. Therefore, virtual reality certainly has promise and could be very advantageous for those suffering from mental illnesses but the technology does have potential for use in physical therapy, as well.
Virtual reality has shown promise in neurological therapy for patients suffering from chronic pain. Neurological disorders, like mental disorders, are also very difficult to combat for medical professionals, they usually require unique forms of therapy for treatment. However, VR has shown that it has potential for those that are suffering from these forms of illnesses, for example, burn victims. A virtual reality game called SnowWorld is an immersive environment in which the user throws snowballs at snowmen while in a white, snowy background. According to Peter Orszag, a banker and economist, “the program has been used for the past 20 years to relieve the pain experienced by burn victims, and it’s been surprisingly effective.” (Orszag, 1). *Virtual reality can help people overcome real pain*. This shows the neurological impact of virtual reality for those who are suffering from such pain and shows the potential virtual reality has in neurology. Additionally, a study conducted in which amputees suffering from PLP, or phantom limb pain, were asked to participate in a virtual reality “grasping activity” showed that virtual reality aided the pain reduction suffered by each patient by an average of 64%. (Dunn, 598), Although, the sample size was small for this study, being only 7 people, the positive effects the virtual reality had on the patients was clearly observed. Therefore, these results lead to the idea that virtual reality could be potentially beneficial for those that are suffering from neurological ailments.
Virtual reality also has its use in training medical personnel for the field. One major problem that many medical students face is the application of what is learned in medical school to what is used in the field. Virtual reality can be used to aid in bridging that gap and allows medical students to perform surgeries as they actually would without the danger of conducting a surgery on a live patient. According to Jannat Falah, a professor at the University of Glasgow in the United Kingdom, “Virtual Reality offers more realistic and “hands-on” learning experience, to develop the students’ skills in a safe controlled environment, without the risks involved in direct interaction with the patient.” (Falah, 1). The main risk that comes with working on human patients is the risk of failure of a procedure, thus harming the patient. Additionally, using a cadaver is expensive and they are in lower quality than in years prior. Therefore, virtual reality is a cost effective and risk-free way of training medical students for the field. Not only is this technology cheaper and safer than other methods, it is also just as effective if not better at preparing students. A use of virtual reality known as SUAS, or Single User’s Assessment System, has been proposed recently and is currently being researched as a way in comparing students with actual professionals. A virtual reality system monitors a user’s actions and the SUAS determines if the user’s actions meet the standards set by the administrator.
Ronei Marcos De Moraes, a Professor of Statistics at Universidade Federal da Paraiba, states “All the information is sent to the SUAS which analyzes the data and emits, at the end of the training, an assessment report about the user’s performance according pre-defined classes of performance.” (Moraes, 47). Concepts such as SUAS could be used extensively by hospitals and schools to prepare students and employees for real-life scenarios in the medical field due to the fact that a defined standard of preparedness can be set for a student, making it so new medical professionals are adept in the field prior to actually working in it. Therefore, virtual reality has the potential to properly prepare medical students for work on actual patients.
Virtual reality has existed for a couple of decades now yet only recently has virtual reality been discovered as useful other than entertainment. The technology has definite use in other field, with prominent potential in the medical field. Due to the noticeable benefits of using virtual reality for training new students and the positive effects the software has on mental and neurological illnesses, it is evident that virtual reality certainly has use in the medical field. While the research being conducted on virtual reality is still rather fresh, the potential for it in the medical field is undeniable.
