Heartbeat: Virtual David Attenborough helping patients conquer old fears
May 20, 2019
How would you like to fly like a bird? Visit outer space? Dive under water and swim with the fish in exotic places? Thanks to virtual reality (VR) technology patients are now being given the opportunity to do just that – and are reaping the benefits.
As part of the work being done at Rowley Regis Hospital’s Heart of Sandwell Day Hospice, the team have acquired two standalone Oculus Go headsets for its patients to help them ‘leave’ the confines of the hospice to travel to places they hold dear in their memories. The headset can also be used for relaxation sessions, utilising both VR programs and 360-degree video experiences to help manage any anxiety or sleep problems they had been having and helping them achieve many of their day hospice goals.
It has also helped conquer some very long standing fears, as one visitor to the hospice revealed.
“It’s wonderful,” explains patient Daphne Barnes. “I’ve always been terrified of water from when I was about five or six years old, but when I was using the VR I had no fear. Even though it seemed to cover me, I could still get my head above the water. I could see the fish swimming in the water around me, I could see the coral and I could see the islands and the sky. It was so lovely – I just can’t find the words to describe it.”
Daphne’s experience came after trying VR experience ‘David Attenborough’s Great Barrier Reef Dive’, which sees the 92 year old broadcaster examine life found in the natural wonder off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Other experiences on the hospice headsets at this time include encounters with dinosaurs, trips down nature trails and visits to far flung locations around the world.
Claire Roach, an Occupational Therapist working at the hospice says: “We’ve decided to use virtual reality to help our patients with advanced care planning and also to improve their quality of life and general wellbeing. We’re looking at issues such as managing anxiety and helping them achieve long held goals – say, if they wanted to go to a specific country or experience something they would otherwise be unable to. With VR that closed door is opened for them again.”
With this recent new generation of immersive technology being powered by the HTC, Sony, Google and Facebook owned Oculus, which donated the first of the hospice’s headsets, using VR as a treatment has become an idea health authorities and MedTech firms around the world are continuing to investigate. Everything from education and training for practitioners, to pain management and helping deal with psychological disorders for patients is being looked into.
Claire thinks that as the technology continues to develop, further investment in VR by the Trust could be a possibility; especially considering what it can do even now.
“Areas such as pain management, or using it to help relax patients who are distressed, helping treat phobias and trauma, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I see the future of VR in healthcare as something that is very important and I think there’s scope for a lot of development there,” added Claire.
For now it is something the members of the hospice can enjoy and talk about, encouraging staff and visitors to give the new technology a try. Daphne says her experience means she’s got something more she can discuss with her grandson who uses VR to play video games. However, as keen as she is to take in more trips beyond the hospice walls, it’s what it has done for her outside of entertainment that she is most in awe of.