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CAN VIRTUAL REALITY REPLACE ACTUAL REALITY? . Definition of Virtual Reality and Actual Reality . The Origin of Virtual Reality . See why you need VR in your Medical Education

Let’s forget Virtual Reality for a sec, what do you think Actual Reality means?

Do you think it would be replaced by Virtual Reality soon?

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Between the two realities;one is totally virtual while the other uses a real-life setting. One requires a headset and only enhances fictional reality, while the other;needs only a smartphone and enhances both virtual and real world experiences.

What is Virtual Reality?

Virtual reality is a 3D-simulated environment that help users explore and interact with the surrounding, in a way that replicates reality just as it’s been perceived by the user.

What is Actual Reality?

Actual Reality refers to the real world setting and not some fictional life-like experience.

Right now as I’m writing, two of my colleagues are doing Tik Tok videos. They’d go through other users’ videos and try to mimick them. And you know, they don’t need to go to their followers ‘ houses to show them the videos (actual reality). All they need to do is hit the ‘send’ button and it’s done(virtual reality). Virtual Reality is not just when you wear a headset to watch a movie or do medical training.

Imagine living two lives at a go; one in the virtual world and the other in the real world. Imagine swimming with the dolphins from your room or hospital bed. Crazy right? Yeah, Virtual Reality is that crazy.

Can Virtual Reality Replace Actual Reality?

Nowadays people could travel places without facing the stress of queuing up in embassies or paying for an international passport. It’s very possible to be a scholar in real life and a pop star in a virtual world.

Medical students could run dissection practicals without experiencing the trauma of using a cadaver. The question should be; which sane human would prefer a stressful life to stress-free life? The truth remains that, as the world keeps evolving the line between Virtual reality and actual reality becomes thinner and thinner.

Judging from how rapid the world is developing,I’ll say that Virtual reality would replace about 90% of the Actual reality(it can’t replace everything) . It’s just a matter of time.

Who Invented Virtual Reality?

Virtual Reality has been in existence for like 60 years now.The term itself was first used in the mid 1980s during the time of Jaron Lanier(Founder of VPL research). At that time he developed goggles,gloves, that were needed for the Virtual Reality experience.

But before Lanier, Morton Heilig invented the Sensorama. This was a reality simulator whereby the viewers sat in front of the machine with their heads placed between panels while looking at the 3D images and being exposed to the specialized smells and sounds, to create an immersive experience.Most people believe Sensorama was the first VR device.

In 1965,Ivan Sutherland invented another head-mounted device that was inferred to be a “window into the virtual world”. He called it ‘the ultimate Display’

And since then,VR has been under modification to suit the needs of the present day people.

The present-day VR is existing because of these pioneer inventors. They contributed greatly to making VR devices; cost-effective, accessible, and of high quality. We owe them our gratitude.

Why Is VR needed in medical Education?

One of the causes of high mortality rate in hospitals, is lack of professionalism.And this is primarily due to inadequate training exposure and expertise on the part of practitioners.The use of VR in medical training creates an immersive learning condition,a safe-to-fail environment,a Do-it-yourself opportunity and a stronger memory retention capability.

It helps; surgeons during surgeries,in pain management and health education for patients.

Why You Need VR in your Medical Education

1. Medical Training:

Medical training has evolved from the normal traditional method to an immersive experience training process. Real-life medical situations could be simulated using Virtual Reality simulations. After which the student’s mistakes are mapped out and corrected.

Another advantage it has, is that the immersive experience it creates for the trainees make it hard for them to forget what’s been learned. A 2D visual learning process enhances memory retention not to talk of an immersive 3D learning process.

With the help of VR, certain body parts that are normally inaccessible could be visualized by medical professionals, to make their predictions easier. It as well give surgeons a fore sight of a surgical process even before starting.VR simulation training reduces operative costs, complications and unnecessary mistakes.

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2.Pain Management:

In Spiegal Brennan words; “Virtual Reality is a mind-body treatment that is based in real science and does more than just distract the mind from pain, but also helps to block pain signals from reaching the brain, offering a drug-free supplement to traditional pain management”

Many researches done aas shown that patients using VR for pain management had up to 24% drop in their pain scores. VR immerses patients in a 3D-simulated environment and reduces their pains primarily by distracting their attention from harmful stimuli. This implies that pain could be managed even without addictive drugs.

3.Health Education:

Most patients are curious to understand their health condition or even the treatment process. VR has come to the rescue of such patients. It provides a self-explanatory and detailed reconstruction of the organs and tissues of interest(virtually). This satisfies the curiosity of such patients and give them the chance to grasp the principle behind their treatment process.An enlightened patient undoubtedly takes charge of his/her health.

Take Note

>VR is not for every medical condition or patient

>It’s not a cure for disease conditions like cancer

>It’s normally used in collaboration with other treatment methods.

>Some VR users get ‘Cybersickness’ while some don’t

>It’s best when used in collaboration with a medical professional

CONCLUSION

VR has been a fascinating tool in the health industry with many possibilities. We wouldn’t be enjoying easier medical training process, illustrative health education or better pain management process,if not for the pioneer inventors of Virtual reality. As the world is rapidly evolving, the line between virtual reality and actual reality continues to fade. VR would replace a greater portion of actual reality in a matter of decades.

Be on our waitlist today, own a VR training kit soon and enjoy 50% discount as a new user.

2 thoughts on “CAN VIRTUAL REALITY REPLACE ACTUAL REALITY? . Definition of Virtual Reality and Actual Reality . The Origin of Virtual Reality . See why you need VR in your Medical Education”

  1. A combination of virtual reality and actual reality technologies and methods can produce an innovative model (hybrid), that can promote many many possibilities more than VR alone. A tree cannot form a forest, – an African proverb. There is need for further research on how to combine both to arrive at a new model that can be used to solve complex problems, not only in the Medical and Health ecosystems but other spheres of life.

    1. Yes, looking at it from another angle you made a very valid point Udeme. Well the two are intertwinned, so combining the two is very very necessary.

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