Updated: Jun 26
Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment that appears to be real. This environment is a simulation of a real or fictional world.
Virtual reality surgery is the application of virtual reality in surgery.
Virtual reality surgery is also referred to as virtual surgery or VR surgery.
Benefits of Virtual Surgery
Immersive Learning: Virtual reality transforms surgical education with interactive 3D environments that enhance the learning experience.
Efficiency in Preparation: Reduced surgical preparative time means more time for practical learning.
Safety First: The low-risk, safe environment of virtual surgery allows learners to make mistakes without consequences.
Real-Time Feedback: Learners receive instant feedback, a crucial element in skill development.
Guided Learning: Real-time guidance ensures that learners stay on the right surgical path.
Knowledge at Your Fingertips: Access to real-time surgical references and information supports informed decision-making.
3D Insights: 3D anatomical images and models provide a deeper understanding of surgical procedures.
Continuous Growth: Virtual surgery offers endless learning opportunities, promoting skill refinement.
Practice Makes Perfect: Repetition without consequences fosters mastery of surgical techniques, especially in minimally invasive and robotic surgery.
Innovative Exploration: Experiment with new and groundbreaking surgical procedures safely.
Tackling Rare Cases: Virtual surgery allows practitioners to gain experience in rare surgical procedures.
Global Expertise: Access to worldwide surgical expertise fosters collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Telesurgery Possibilities: Virtual surgery sets the stage for collaborative telesurgery endeavors.
Disadvantages of virtual surgery
VR surgery can also have some disadvantages:
High cost of professional VR headsets, and VR surgical software.
Motion sickness.
Limited real feedback.
Limited surgical procedures.
VR surgery can enhance the way surgeons perform, train, and teach surgery.
Virtual reality creates a 3D simulated, interactive, and immersive environment, where surgeons can practice several surgical procedures and surgical skills.
Updated: Jun 28
One Shot Immersive and Folprof won the top prize in the “Most Effective Use of Augmented and Virtual Reality” category at the 2021 Drum Awards for Digital Industries.
One Shot Immersive launched its first virtual reality project in Yemen, where there are only 4 surgeons per 1 million people, compared to 345 surgeons per million in the UK. This means that if someone is injured in Yemen, they will probably end up in a hospital that has no surgeon at all.
Their goal is to help healthcare workers save lives by providing as much knowledge as possible.
“Never underestimate the number of lives a line of code can save.” James Gough, founder of One Shot Immersive
The project uses virtual reality technologies to create real-world simulations of disaster medicine and traumatic emergencies. Products can train medical and nonmedical personnel to make vital decisions in critical situations.
The project helps users learn how to make decisions that impact patient outcomes and measure the effectiveness of their choices to verify the skills they have learned.
The experience places the user in a situation of massive losses and other traumatic emergencies. The user is the triage officer who decides which emergency or patient is a priority.
They are asked to prioritize using the International Red Cross guidelines for Category 1-4 triage, so some will not survive. This is extremely difficult and perhaps one of the most difficult decisions for a health professional to make. Who lives and who dies?
They are asked to prioritize using the International Red Cross guidelines for Category 1-4 triage, so some will not survive. This is extremely difficult and perhaps one of the most difficult decisions for a health professional to make. Who lives and who dies?
In January 2020, 60 Yemeni health professionals were trained using One Shot VR software. A world first. In real terms, this means that six Yemeni health workers are now not only equipped to return to the hospital and perform triage when the worst happens, but also empowered to teach their colleagues the ICRC triage methodology. Through virtual reality, they experienced real-world scenarios, made critical decisions, and learned lessons in a safe environment.
Since then, showing that this type of technology can be used in the most dangerous areas of the world has attracted the interest of other major organizations struggling to make full use of what is now readily available technology.
In collaboration with the World Health Organization, the project is now expanding to other parts of the world.
Updated: Jun 28
Virtual surgery is a simulated 3D environment that enables surgeons to explore and interact with a specific patient's anatomy before the operation day, using virtual reality headsets.
Virtual reality surgery simulates surgical procedures, allowing surgeons to practice in an immersive, interactive, and safe environment.
Virtual surgery is a simulation of surgical procedures and surgical techniques.
Virtual surgery creates a simulated 3D, dynamic, adaptive, and safe environment for surgeons to practice specific surgical procedures outside the operating room.
This environment is perceived through a device known as a VR headset or VR glasses.
The simulated surgery gives a greater sense of immersion than is experienced through a traditional surgical simulator.