Amidst a global pandemic, medical practices and hospitals are embracing the power of virtual therapy. The future trajectory of patient care whether in or outpatient will likely involve wide use of virtual reality for many novel uses that can not only lower costs but improve healthcare delivery while delighting patients.
Healthcare Virtual Reality in the past
Currently, Virtual Reality is mostly used for medical training, for both doctors in training and students, surgical preparation, medical marketing, and educating people about a disease or medical condition or process. The majority of current applications are low poly, meaning 3D computer graphics that have a relatively small number of polygons allowing the software to render faster. The high cost of hardware and development has been an inhibiting factor for the development of long term therapy programs in VR but with impressive new processors and a ton of developer/designer talent, this will change.
Healthcare Virtual Reality in the future
The next generation of Virtual Reality applications will be led by patient-centric Immersive virtual reality world’s built to deliver care to patients. Patients that are in a hospital setting can escape their hospital room to do therapy, relax, meditate, communicate with friends, peers and family. Being transported into exotic nature locations can be an antidote to stress. Nature therapy has been shown to lower blood pressure and stress hormone levels, reduce nervous system arousal, enhance immune system function, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and improve mood. Low-cost insurance covered CBT, ACT and Mindfulness programs in VR can augment existing staff and provide tremendous value to patients.
Rocket VR Health’s Platform
With Rocket VR Health’s platform hospitals can provide affordable clinically validated therapies at scale over virtual reality for use in an in-clinic or at home. The virtual therapy sessions provided through the platform are immersive and engaging and use the therapeutic methodologies designed by some of the leading cancer hospitals in the USA.
Rocket VR’s platform is designed to incorporate seamlessly into existing treatment options – eliminating the need to work around any barriers to virtual care. Seamless device provisioning, management, app deployment and a library for therapy and meditation content make incorporating virtual reality therapy easy for healthcare organizations of all sizes.