ChristianaCare is looking at ways to expand its use of virtual reality to treat patients.
At a symposium in Newark Friday, researchers from The University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing and Annenberg School for Communication introduced a training program that uses a VR headset to simulate how to treat an overdose patient.
“This is where the jumping off point comes for health care simulation is that you see what somebody did and then the next iterative approach and other people are using it for different things. We are at the forefront of this technology,” said Dr. Sue Coffee Zern, Director of ChristianaCare’s Virtual Education and Simulation Training Center..
ChristianaCare physicians were trained using the UPenn simulation at last week’s symposium.
The seven-minute session simulates an overdose and teaches the user how to administer Narcan to save a life.
“Everybody is going to wear a headset and be in that environment and they’re actually going to see what they need to do and be able to practice that until they get good at it,” said Coffee Zern.
Zern called last week’s symposium an opportunity to share ideas for different uses of VR with other institutions.
ChristianaCare has been using virtual reality headsets for more than a year as a way for cancer patients at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center to immerse themselves in scenery like beaches or forests while receiving chemotherapy.