Have you ever lain down on a hospital bed counting the days until you are released? Did you, as a patient ever have the feeling that time just stops in the hospital, there is nothing to do, you miss your family and friends and you are constantly worried about your condition?
Brennan Spiegel and his team at the Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles introduced VR worlds to their patients to help them release stress and reduce pain. With the special goggles, they could escape the four walls of the hospital and visit amazing landscapes in Iceland, participate in the work of an art studio or swim together with whales in the deep blue ocean.
Spiegel says that not only can the hospital experience be improved with medical VR, but the costs of care may also be reduced. By reducing stress and pain, the length of the patient’s stay in the ward or the amount of resources utilized can both be decreased.