Opportunities in Virtual and Augmented Reality in Medicine

According to research and consulting firm IndustryARC, augmented and virtual reality in healthcare is predicted to generate $2.54 billion globally by 2020 . Augmented reality is a mix of the real and virtual worlds, like Project X-Ray. With virtual reality, the entirety of the experience is digital. In healthcare, the two areas these technologies will be most utilized are training and rehabilitation?

By 2022, the XR market is expected to reach?$209 billion, which is eight times what it is today. This tremendous growth could mean the realities of our 2030 lives are beyond our imagination’s ability to grasp.

Here's what you need to know about extended reality.

This year, virtual reality (VR) headsets including Oculus Rift and HTC Vive hit the consumer gaming market, while Google Cardboard offers a limited VR experience via the smartphone.?Augmented reality?(AR) adds a virtual digital layer to our smartphone screens and mixed reality blends physical and digital elements.

Immersive technology creates empathy by putting the individual at the centre of every experience, and it has broadened its reach from gaming and entertainment to news, documentaries, education and healthcare. Jane Gauntlett’s?In my shoesproject used VR to make a first-person perspective short film about her experience of epilepsy. And now it is giving brands new ways to foster electronic empathy by linking virtual, physical and emotional realities.

Here are the differences between virtual and augmented reality.?

However, almost every medical domain will have applications and opportunities to use VR/AR to diagnosis and treat diseases. Here's how it will change how surgeons work and train.

Here is how medical students will be taught and tested.

Here is how it is being used in behavioral and?mental health.

?Here is how your architect will design your medical space

Here is how VR is being used in surgical education:

The industry has taken notice and has devolved into particular subsegments.

Here's how hospitals are offering it to patient to relieve their pain

VR/AR is but one aspect of digital health i.e. using information and communications technologies to exchange medical information. Like telemedicine, remote sensing and big data, the challenge will be to validate what works and what does not, train doctors and patients in their use and overcome the barriers to adoption and penetration.

However, according to industry experts, for VR to go mainstream, makers will need to lower prices, make it more comfortable, create innovative distribution channels, and create more appealing content.

Medical educators will need education and training in teaching with technologies like these. As of now, we are hypothesizing that VR will result in better outcomes and demonstrated competencies for less cost. That hypothesis needs to be validated. As of now, medical school administrators and department heads think that anyone can teach, there is no need to compensate them to do so, and why bother measuring the results. I also don't see medical schools passing through any savings to students in the form of tuition reduction. Like medtech, there is no Moore's Law in medical education.

Strap on your headset. We are in for a rocky ride. The images might not be real, but the barriers to use sure are.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs