Virtual reality is changing the game, literally, for our healthcare landscape and AppliedVR, a virtual reality company based in Los Angeles, CA, proves to do just that. Their therapeutic technology provides patients of all ages drug-free alternatives for managing pain and anxiety before, during, and after medical procedures. Utilizing Samsung’s Gear VR, patients can be transported to Ireland, watch the Nature Channel, or even play “Bear Blast,” a simple, fun game that promises no death or injury. Their technology is doing more than just distracting a patient – it is dramatically decreasing patients’ acute pain.
Though their clinical research thus far has proven the technology to be extremely effective, they are currently conducting further research to demonstrate how their products may decrease patient anxiety, minimize the need for sedation, reduce the risk of drug complications and shorten postoperative stays. With partners such as Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, they are already seeing immense value and improvement in patient outcomes, while challenging the typical use of narcotics and maximizing healthcare value for all involved.
While this type of technology may not be suited for every patient, it does serve a very strategic purpose in the medical environment. Kudos, AppliedVR!
About DoseSpot
DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit http://www.DoseSpot.com.
From the hospital to the pediatrician’s office, providing compassion and patient support is a top priority for most providers in the modern healthcare era. New initiatives to improve these metrics are constantly in the works, as evidenced by South Devon Healthcare Foundation Trust’s (England) teaming up with innovative software developers to create a firsthand virtual reality simulation of the patient experience.
Meet PatientVR, the brainchild of South Devon’s innovation team and spearheaded by PhD student Nick Peres. Initially, Peres and team were building out a “patient-esque†mannequin that could blink, breathe, bleed and speak—with the goal to develop a more accurate and realistic training tool for medical personnel. When considering the importance of what a patient feels and sees, however, ideas soon migrated to the topic of virtual reality.
PatientVR runs on a headset and chronicles a patient being transported to the ER with chest pain. Originating in the ambulance, said patient is stabilized, examined, informed that he is having a heart attack and then rolled into the operating room where pre-surgical risks are voiced via a team of surgeons. The video is seven minutes long and comprehensively captures the patient perspective along every point of the care delivery process. Oh, and did we mention that Peres filmed the video himself with the help of seven GoPro cameras?
A recent article in HIStalk Connect gathered feedback from a number of clinicians currently piloting PatientVR, including anesthesiologist Tod Guest. When asked about PatientVR’s efficacy, Dr. Guest praised the tool for “[reinforcing] the need to be sensitive to [patients’] needs and their ability to understand the information you’re [giving] them. Their vulnerability and emotional state is important, especially if they are suddenly taken ill with something serious.†If funding is secured in time, PatientVR will be rolled out across a number of UK-based health systems this year. Fingers crossed that Peres makes it over to the states as well!
SOURCE: HIStalk ConnectÂ
About DoseSpot DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.
Have you texted, web chatted or Skyped with your doctor lately? You may want to, as health professionals and digital health entrepreneurs alike are predicting great things for telemedicine in the coming year. There’s no disputing that telemedicine “went big†in 2014—with provider communication, patient engagement and care coordination products dominating the digital health space, remote care and patient-to-provider telemedicine services proliferated virtually every area of the market. This “boom,†however, is expected to intensify in 2015 with ambitious predictions already circling within the wide and wonderful world of healthcare.
According to a recent article published by VentureBeat, there are several key indicators that 2015 will be the year that telemedicine has a takeoff of epic proportions. Check out the numbers:
As of 2016, the global telemedicine market is predicted to be $27 billion with Virtual health Services accounting for $16 billion.
By 2018, 65% of interactions with healthcare organizations will be done via mobile devices.
Rock Health, a San Francisco-based digital health accelerator and seed fund, estimates that $4.1 billion of new capital in 2014 was invested in digital health—up from less than $1 million in 2011 (Forbes Magazine).
With the aforementioned financial gains on the near horizon, major players in the healthcare space—such as providers and insurance companies—can expect worthwhile benefits:
Remote patient-to-provider virtual consults have the potential to reduce the need for all in-person doctor visits by up to 93%. This translates into savings of about $103 per primary care visit and $1,067 per emergency room visit. Your wallets will be thanking you!
50% of all doctor visits can be conducted virtually and 70% of all electronic health record (EHR) visits can be conducted remotely.
Finally, the patient—posited at the center of care—wins in the grand scheme of telehealth, as on-demand and high quality care becomes a reality. With a vast and continuously growing population of aging Americans, proponents of virtual visits point to the advantages conferred to those lacking easy access to a doctor’s offices, namely the elderly, the frail and those in rural areas. Telehealth is certainly headed in a strongly positive direction. Will predictions prevail? Only time will tell!
SOURCES: VentureBeat and Forbes MagazineÂ
About DoseSpot DoseSpot is a Surescripts certified e-Prescribing platform specifically designed to integrate with electronic health record, electronic dental record, practice management and telehealth software. DoseSpot is certified to e-Prescribe controlled substances and has provided simple, affordable and integratable e-Prescribing solutions to healthcare IT companies since 2009. For more information, please visit www.DoseSpot.com.
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