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Virtual Reality in Healthcare

How are healthcare providers using virtual reality to help clients and patients?

Research Studies

• Cogné, M., Taillade, M., N’Kaoua, B., Tarruella, A., Klinger, E., Larrue, F., … Sorita, E. (2017). The contribution of virtual reality to the diagnosis of spatial navigation disorders and to the study of the role of navigational aids: A systematic literature review. Annals of physical and rehabilitation medicine, 60.
• Coyle,, H., Traynor, V., & Solowij, N. (2015). Computerized and virtual reality cognitive training for individuals at high risk of cognitive decline: Systematic review of the literature. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23.
• De Keersmaecker, E., Lefeber, N., Geys, M., Jespers, E., Kerckhofs, E., & Swinnen, E. (2019). Virtual reality during gait training: Does it improve gait function in persons with central nervous system movement disorders? A systematic review and meta-analysis. NeuroRehabilitation, 44.
• da Costa, R. T., de Carvalho, M. R., Ribeiro, P., & Nardi, A. E. (2018). Virtual reality exposure therapy for fear of driving: Analysis of clinical characteristics, physiological response, and sense of presence. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 40.
• de Rooij, I. J. M., van de Port, I. G. L., Visser-Meily, J. M. A., & Meijer, J.-W. G. (2019). Virtual reality gait training versus non-virtual reality gait training for improving participation in subacute stroke survivors: Study protocol of the ViRTAS randomized controlled trial. Trials, 20.
• Fasilis, T., Patrikelis, P., Siatouni, A., Alexoudi, A., Veretzioti, A., Zachou, L., & Gatzonis, S. S. (2018). A pilot study and brief overview of rehabilitation via virtual environment in patients suffering from dementia. Psychiatriki, 29.
• Hsieh, C.-C., Lin, P.-S., Hsu, W.-C., Wang, J., Huang, Y.-C., Lim, A.-Y., & Hsu, Y.-C. (2018). The effectiveness of a virtual reality-based Tai Chi exercise on cognitive and physical function in older adults with cognitive impairment. Dementia & Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 46.
• Jin, W., Choo, A., Gromala, D., Shaw, C., & Squire, P. (2016). A virtual reality game for chronic pain management: A randomized, controlled clinical study. Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 220.     
• Jones, T., Moore, T., & Choo, J. (2016). The impact of virtual reality on chronic pain. PLoS One, 11(12), e0167523.
• Kim, J.-H. (2018). Effects of a virtual reality video game exercise program on upper extremity function and daily living activities in stroke patients. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 30.
• McNamara, P., More, K. H., Papellis, Y., Diallo, S., & Wildman, W. J. (2018). Virtual reality-enabled treatment of nightmares. American Psychological Association, 28.
• Moyle, W., Jones, C., Dwan, T., & Petrovich, T. (2018). Effectiveness of a virtual reality forest on people with dementia: A mixed methods pilot study. Gerontologist, 58.
• Perez-Marcos, D., Chevalley, O., Schmidlin, T., Garipelli, G., Serino, A., Vuadens, P., … Millán, J. D. R. (2017). Increasing upper limb training intensity in chronic stroke using embodied virtual reality: A pilot study. Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation, 14.    
• Pourmand, A., Davis, S., Marchak, A., Whiteside, T., & Sikka, N. (2018). Virtual reality as a clinical tool for pain management. Current Pain and Headache Reports, 22.
• Wiederhold, B. K., Gao, K., Sulea, C., Wiederhold, M. D. (2014). Virtual reality as a distraction technique in chronic pain patients. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking, 17.     
• Wijma, E. M., Veerbeek, M. A., Prins, M., Pot, A. M., & Willemse, B. M. (2018). A virtual reality intervention to improve the understanding and empathy for people with dementia in informal caregivers: Results of a pilot study. Aging & Mental Health, 22.
• Won, A. S., Bailey, J., Bailenson, J., Tataru, C., Yoon, I. A., & Golianu, B. (2017). Immersive virtual reality for pediatric pain. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 4.

News Items

Photo by Arlington Heights Memorial Library

• It’s Not Such a Small World After All: Introducing Older Adults to Virtual Reality (American Libraries)

• Virtual Reality as Therapy for Pain (NY Times)

• Virtual Reality Therapy has Real-Life Benefits for Some Mental Disorders (Science News)

• How Virtual Reality Will Transform Medicine (Scientific American)

• The Future of Therapy - VR and Biometrics (iMotions)

• Virtual Reality Therapy: Treating the Global Mental Health Crisis (Tech Crunch)

• Virtual Reality Used to Combat Isolation and Improve Health (AARP)

• VR Brings Dramatic Change to Mental Health Care (Forbes)

Photo by Tech Crunch

• Healthcare Virtual Reality Enhances Clinician, Patient Satisfaction (Xtelligent Healthcare Media)
• Future or fad? Virtual reality in medical education (AAMC)
• Virtual reality offering a new dimension to surgery (The Institution of Engineering and Technology)
• How this Med School is Teaching Virtual Reality to Teach Students (Fortune)
• How VR is Revolutionizing the Way Future Doctors are Learning About Our Bodies (University of California San Francisco)
• Virtual Reality Lets Med Students Experience What it’s Like to be 74 (Huffington Post)
• Virtual reality puts UC Irvine medical students in the body of a patient (LA Times)
• Narcan Simulation Becomes a Virtual Reality (Ohio University)

Ted Talks

• How Virtual Reality Can Create the Ultimate Empathy Machine (Chris Milk)

• Visualizing the Medical Data Explosion (Anders Ynnerman) 

• This Virtual Lab Will Revolutionize Science Class (Michael Bodekaer) 

• How Augmented Reality Will Change Sports ... and Build Empathy (Chris Kluwe)