New Technology in HealthCare

New Technology in HealthCare

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New Technology in HealthCare

A conversation about virtual reality or augmented reality brings in mind comical and unfashionable goggles, a shortage of useful applications and graphics that induce headaches. This was the thought about three years ago. Following consultations with Deloitte Global, as part of its outlook of 2016, forecasts predicted that 2016 was Virtual Reality’s first billion dollar year. Goldman Sachs analyst Heather Bellini predicted that Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality could generate about $80 billion dollars in revenue. This amount would include hardware and software by the year 2025. Mark Zuckerberg had invested $2 billion dollars on Virtual Reality on the company’s Oculus Acquisition.

The other device is by Google in collaboration with an augmented reality startup, Magic Leap, which raised a total of $4.5 billion. Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality have led to evolution in how people play games and also how the military functions. The technology has also made its way into the healthcare sector where clinicians and medical researchers have been involved in the wave of the new technology. Individuals in the healthcare sector have been fast to innovate and imagine ways that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality can be used to improve and reshape the experience of the patients, improve the outcomes of clinical procedures, deliver therapies that are innovative and also train the potential healthcare professionals in a better manner. The following paper will focus on an interview on how Virtual reality was implemented in a healthcare setting.

The doctor I interviewed was planning to use virtual reality to treat a patient who had dementia. Since the technology was new, the leader anticipated resistance at first. He therefore prepared extensive training for the potential clients. He first consulted the patients who he was to handle and after they were convinced it’s when they agreed into the plan to be involved in the testing of the new technology. The leader addressed in a clear manner to the patients on how the virtual reality technology would address the problem of dementia. This was made to being by a well-designed introduction based on collaborative effort in order for the implementation to be successful.

The leader was keen to have made an investigation prior to inviting the employees for the test. He publicly identified the issues that the new technology would address and potential solutions. He involved several people in his initiative that included his patients, the nursing home administration and representatives from the social services. The patients were involved since they were the point of focus to healing the disease; the administration was the financier and also headed the operations of the hospital whereas the representatives from the social services represented the community and the authorities.

The next step that the leader made was planning. The investigation was meant to prepare the stakeholders for the idea of change in technology; collaborative planning section gains acceptance for the details. To ensure acceptance by the patient, the leader had to focus on the most crucial importance of the new technology which is to heal dementia. Implementation involved training the patients on a few basic on how to respond to the new technology exposure. When other stakeholders are involved in the planning it is easy to identify results that could be useful during the implementation process.

The other step was implementation. It is the phase that determined if the procedure was successful. Virtual Reality headsets being new technologies in the market require specialists to operate and set them up. The leader had to train a number of people in the facility on how to operate the virtual reality headsets. To gain the acceptance of the patients, the nursing home administration and the other stakeholders, the leader ensured that every party collaborated to the success of the implementation of the curing process.

The leader used the virtual reality headsets in a nursing home to cure patients who were suffering from dementia. The headsets were used to bring different sceneries in the days of the seniors taking them away from the experience of just staring at black walls. The leader cited that the program on which the headsets were running on were games that would help the residents to exercise. This is similar to most devices that are being produced through new technology and are wearable. These wearable devices are being produced mainly with the seniors in mind so that they do not have to leave their homes but stay at their own homes.

Most of the patients involved in the testing of the new technology were lonely seniors. The Virtual Reality kit was meant to lift the mood of the senior citizens especially those that are bored and anxious or even depressed since they think that no one cares for their welfare. The virtual reality goggles were able to achieve several actions like bringing beautiful places to the seniors, places that they would not be allowed or would not manage to go.

One of the patients, who were ailing from dementia, always stayed hunched over and constantly anxious and never took part in the group sessions in the nursing home. Instead the man opted to sit in a corner. When he used the virtual reality headset, he got alert, relaxed and was engaging with the scenes that he saw. The actions were so intriguing that when his wife saw him engaging with the scenes, she broke into tears. She said that she was happy to see her husband brought back to joy and happiness. The leader thought that the process reactivated some neural pathways in the brains of the elderly due to the power of presence and having something to look at without being distracted (North, & North, 2017, p.264).

The leader after the implementation of the new technology decided to evaluate if it was useful. Using the findings from the elderly man who could not speak and not interact, it was evident that the technology had been successful. Another way the leader evaluate the success of the program was asking some of the seniors what they felt about the experience. One of the elderly women said that the feeling was amazing and continued saying that the therapy had done more than she could explain to her. The leader would engage again in the practice to help other elderly people that have dementia. There were no mistakes since the procedure was simple and did not involve body encroachment.

Reference

North, M. M., & North, S. M. (2017). Virtual Reality Therapy for Treatment of Psychological

Disorders. In Career Paths in Telemental Health (pp. 263-268). Springer International

Publishing.