Virtual reality based apps are the future of patient: Counseling

Abstract

The use of virtual reality to educate preoperative patients has a positive impact on nurses as well as patients undergoing treatment. It can help improve patient satisfaction and improve favorable outcomes by reducing patient anxiety and proving adequate knowledge about the procedure and possible outcomes to the patient. It also reduces burden on nursing staff and counsellors. Larger and more diverse cohort studies will help us understand the wider application of this tool on the patient population. It may be difficult to apply this tool on elderly patients with failing eyesight, multiple physical comorbidities. Also, there may be reduced acceptance of this modality by older nursing staff and practitioners who may prefer the traditional verbal version for counselling. We will benefit from a combined approach of using virtual reality apps with tradition one-on-one counselling to help alleviate patient concerns and improve patient and healthcare professional satisfaction.

Keywords: Nurse; Patient; Virtual reality; Counselling; Healthcare

Core Tip: Change is the only constant-this is more relevant for the ever evolving and changing medical field. There is so much material available on various internet search - engines regarding almost every health disorder. There are conflicting views presented by different authors that becomes quite overwhelming for the patient. The nursing officers plays a major role in patient counseling. They use simple language, images, and animated video during the pre-operative phase. Now the newly equipped virtual reality apps are fast becoming an important tool for the patients to get the gist of their condition in a best manner. Virtual reality technology has wide-spread benefits in the field of medicine especially in improving health care delivery to patients. The preoperative counselling may be greatly enhanced by use of these tools. It provides insights to patients about their disease and the treatment approach. It also will improve professional satisfaction for health care workers and reduce their work burden. There are few limitations to this technology which call for a holistic approach by combining the old verbal and paper-based methods with the newer methods to deliver the best outcomes to the patients as well as the healthcare providers.