Healthcare professionals should be given a short sharp dose of empathy to help improve their care and make fewer mistakes, researchers have said.<\/p>\n
A team from the Dalhousie University in Canada have reviewed two studies involving virtual reality (VR) and looking at how the technology could assist the medical world.<\/p>\n
In recent years VR has become popular within the gaming world. It works by simulating a specific experience, that in this case will emulate certain symptoms a person might encounter. The user can then interact using special electronic equipment, such as a helmet with a screen inside or gloves fitted with sensors.<\/p>\n
The two VR trials involved in the review were carried out in very different ways with one involving single eight-minute sessions and the other lasting up to 25 minutes in duration.<\/p>\n
They also compared how people responded after they had taken part in a VR experience in the role of the care recipient, and also when the non-immersive VR environment was taken away.<\/p>\n
Despite the different formats, both studies helped those involved to gain a better understanding of what it is like to have a specific disease. It also helped them improve how they interacted with the person who had the health condition.<\/p>\n
Lead author Dr Megan Brydon said: Although the studies we looked at dont definitively show VR can help sustain empathy behaviours over time, there is a lot of promise for research and future applications in this area.<\/p>\n
The technology has been used in other areas of medicine such as watching operations as if the user is actually in the room and attending conferences.<\/p>\n
The findings of the review have been published in the Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Science.<\/p>\n
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Original post:<\/p>\n
Study review shows positive benefits virtual reality might have on medical world - Diabetes.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Healthcare professionals should be given a short sharp dose of empathy to help improve their care and make fewer mistakes, researchers have said. Continue reading