Virtual reality may also help improve emergency cardiovascular care – especially outside the classroom, where it’s most important.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania are studying whether VR can better prepare bystanders to perform CPR in a hectic urban setting. Unwitting participants are given virtual reality headsets and hand devices and suddenly have to deal with a cardiac arrest victim amid a backdrop of wailing sirens and hysterical bystanders.
“Virtual reality can really heighten the stress and realism of these events to help us understand how lay providers respond in real life,” said Marion Leary, R.N., director of innovation research for the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania.
“Do they call 911? Do they ask for an AED? Do they perform CPR? We’re hoping to not just train people with skills, but to emotionally and mentally prepare them to step up and respond when a real cardiac arrest occurs,” said Leary, who is also the founder of ImmERge Labs, a start-up company based on her VR research in emergency preparedness.
Virtual reality emerged in the 1990s in the world of video games and has been slowly creeping into medicine ever since. In 2010, for example, surgeons began using the virtual reality Robotic Surgical Simulator, or RoSS, to learn how to operate the robotic da Vinci Surgical System.
Today, hundreds of researchers are exploring how VR can help treat everything from agoraphobia to burn wounds to stroke. Research suggests using a virtual reality interface can help improve movement and coordination of the arms, hands, and fingers in stroke survivors.
According to a recent report by market research company Grand View Research, Inc., virtual and augmented reality in the healthcare market will pass $5 billion by 2025. But for now, the medical field is still in the early stages of using virtual reality to improve care for heart disease and stroke, Axelrod said.
Alyssa Giacalone, a physician assistant at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, uses the Stanford Virtual Heart. (Photo courtesy of David Sarno)
“There’s so much opportunity and excitement, but the technology is so far ahead of where the market is, or even where the medical industry is at this time,” Axelrod said.
“But I’m optimistic there’s going to be a big leap forward. Pretty soon, we’ll be able to use virtual reality programs to teach everyone in the world. It won’t matter if they’re in New York City or a country village in China – anyone with a cell phone and the internet will immediately be able to learn about congenital heart disease,” he said.
