
Traditional surgical training v/s VR training, what's the difference
The Medical Industry has been witnessing technological developments leading to improved healthcare. One of the latest additions to the developments is the advent of VR training for surgeries. It has completely reformed the way surgeons acquire and refine their skills. The use of virtual reality (VR) offers a whole new way of surgical training. Conventional surgical training methods depend on practical experience, observation, and guidance. There are a few factors that distinguish virtual reality from traditional methods of surgical training.
Traditional Methods of Surgical Training
Traditional surgical training methods include lectures, watching real-time procedures, participating in supervised procedures, and gradually moving to hands-on surgery under the supervision of skilled surgeons. Though successful, these techniques have limitations. Surgeons may not have as much access to a variety of surgical cases and the training process could be slow. Real-time surgeries also involve potential risks.
Virtual Reality in Surgical Training
An innovative solution to overcome these limitations was to incorporate virtual reality into surgical training. Trainee surgeons can use virtual reality (VR) to immerse themselves in extremely lifelike surgical environments where they can perform procedures on dummy patients with accuracy and without risking patients’ lives. This technique meticulously reproduces surgical processes with care taken in every detail such as tools, equipment, and anatomical structures. This is one of the reasons virtual reality companies like ARVR-Sol are working on providing AR VR solutions to the healthcare industry.
Differences between traditional training and virtual-reality based training
Time: Traditional simulation surgery training takes long time to move from observation to hands-on practice but VR speeds up the learning curve by providing early and consistent hands-on experiences. While traditional training involves approximately 2.5 to 3 hours, VR-based training takes around 30 minutes.
Zero-risk approach: Even a small mistake in traditional training results in real consequences. In VR-based training, mistakes serve as valuable input to further improve without risking patients, thus enabling surgeons to be confident and refine their skills.
Wide range of cases: Traditional training depends on the number of cases available which limits the trainee surgeons to only a small number of cases and also exposure to complex surgeries. VR training can expose surgeons to a broader range of surgical scenarios and complexities.
Beyond boundaries: VR goes beyond geographical barriers, connecting surgeons from around the world.
In addition to all the above, AR VR allows customizing training experience to meet individual skill requirements. It also provides accurate feedback which helps in tracking the progress and areas of improvement.
Conclusion:
A significant development in the healthcare industry is observed from conventional surgical training methods to VR training. Virtual reality has completely changed how surgeons learn, practice, and perfect their surgical techniques, which is why virtual reality companies are increasing day by day. The use of VR in surgical training is set to grow much more complex as technology develops, further blurring the distinction between virtual practice and actual competence.