Experts from Virtuleap share their experiences developing a patient training solution for the growing healthcare market
ealthcare and XR are common combinations when reporting on the growing immersive industry. Immersive training is notably finding a foothold in the sector. Like with other high-risk areas of business, such as aviation, public transport, or engineering, VR is seen as a repeatable, safe, and low-cost learning method.
In healthcare, this training can help medical students learn about operational procedures or help upskill working doctors and nurses. The timing of immersive training’s growth in healthcare aligns with industry forecasts from groups like Dimension Market Research, which, earlier this year, forecasted a significant increase for the augmented and virtual reality market in healthcare, with an incoming significant acceleration due in the sector in the coming years.
According to Dimension Market Research, the global augmented and virtual reality market in healthcare is estimated to grow to $19.6 billion by 2033, with an accompanying 20.2 per cent CAGR. The report adds that the current 2024 market value is $3.7 billion, which signifies a forecasted increase of roughly $15.2 billion.
Specifically, the North American AR/VR healthcare market is dominating the sector’s growth, with the region securing 51.1 per cent of the market’s revenue so far in 2024. Dimension Market Research attributes the region’s growth to increased technology adoption, significant R&D investments, and government support, which in turn drives industry adoption.
To discuss the growing healthcare XR market, XR Today spoke exclusively with Bebiana Moura, PhD, Head of Partnerships at Virtuleap, and Nicolas A. Morgenstern, Lead Neuroscientist at Virtuleap, to explore how the firm works with clinical groups and healthcare organisations to develop patient-facing cognitive healthcare training solutions.
Virtuleap: “Cogniclear” and “Enhance” Training Solutions
Virtuleap is an innovative healthcare XR solutions provider focusing on cognitive training and evaluation to help identify, manage, and negate cognitive disorders in patients.
Virtuleap works at the intersection of neuroscience, virtual reality, and game design to deliver new immersive solutions that “tackle the huge impact that cognitive disorders have on society nowadays,” Moura stated.
Moura noted that there is a “huge need for new solutions that can actually, on the one hand, mitigate cognitive deficits or delay them if we’re talking about Alzheimer’s.”
The firm is continuing to create new targeted services while also striving to collect context-relevant data to improve the Virtuleap product base.
Some of the firm’s healthcare training solutions, including Enhance and Cogniclear, and these games aim to “improve your cognitive performance,” Moura noted.
Moura also explained that Virutaleap solutions aim to transform traditional pen and paper tests “into exercises in virtual reality.”
Virtuleap is developing its solutions, like the upcoming Cogniclear, in iterative prototype cycles. It is working with healthcare professionals in regions like Portugal to leverage context-relevant patient data to improve the product.
Moura added:
According to our end users, it takes around 30 minutes to complete. It tackles 14 exercises across seven different cognitive abilities, and we hope to launch it [Cogniclear] in October.
Morgenstern explained that Virtuleap solutions like Cogniclear are based on game design values at the “intersection between neuroscience and game design.”
Morgenstern also added:
Let’s say we want to make a new game that’s expected to tackle attention, for example, we go to the literature and we find the most well established tests for tackling these things. They are neuropsychological tests that have already been validated, used in research, and the clinical setting for a long time, with big samples of individuals. We do this for different categories; we have games for memory, attention, and problem-solving, which is the seed from the beginning of the process.
Will FDA-Approved XR Services Become Commonplace?
According to forecasts, VR growth will hit the healthcare market. The suppliers and developers of XR healthcare solutions must address various medical considerations to enable proper usage, ranging from patient data storage to effectiveness and approval from governing bodies like the FDA.
Moura added:
Virtual reality has been around for many years, and it’s more on the entertainment side of things. But in terms of healthcare, we’re seeing some traction. There are around 70 devices that have been cleared or approved [by the FDA] that use some kind of XR.
Moura believes the list of FDA-approved XR applications will grow across different healthcare areas, such as physical therapy and orthopaedics, explaining:
This is just the beginning. After some hospital or clinic has a headset there and they use it for a use case, I think it will be very easy to start using it also for other use cases.
Morgenstern noted that another factor assisting with XR’s healthcare growth is the continuing “lowering” of headset prices and the “penetration of the headsets into people’s houses, also, which we know that in the States it’s significantly higher than in other countries will make it easier and easier over the next few years.”
Morgenstern noted that the best way to communicate the value of XR is to “give the patient its results,” explaining:
As long as we can prove that with clinical trials or with evidence that what we are doing is working for the patients, that’s what they need and expect. So there’s no magic here.
When dealing with sensitive sectors such as healthcare, Moura notes that it’s “our responsibility as tech providers actually to match those needs, and I think that’s one of the things we’ve done with our product Cogniclear.”
Moura also added that to successfully launch an XR pilot with a business, an XR lead must identify internal technology ambassadors who will “bring your technology and change the environment.”
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