INDUSTRY WATCH tests out every game before offering it to a patient to minimize any day-of surprises .
“ I was perfectly good at designing video games , but I realized I wanted to work in the clinical setting as soon as I started connecting with patients ,” he said .
“ The more positive experiences I helped foster , the more I thought , ‘ This is what I want to do for the rest of my life .’”
Once the patient arrives at the procedure site and is outfitted with a VR headset , Hunt collaborates with the medical team to monitor their heart rate , anxiety level , and pain levels before , during , and after the procedure . “ At the end , I ask them if they ’ d want to do this again , and if they preferred it to anesthesia ,” said Hunt . “ So far , across the board , everyone has had overwhelmingly positive feedback .”
Scaling VR at CHLA
“ Many hospitals have VR headsets that just sit on the shelf because no one has any idea how to apply them ,” says Dr . Miller . “ Our missing piece at CHLA was Phoenix .”
As Dr . Miller and the team finalized their vision for the VR technologist position , it became clear that CHLA would effectively create the blueprint for future US hospitals .
“ We ’ ve yet to encounter another hospital using VR to get patients through procedures with an embedded VR technologist ,” said Dr . Miller .
The role is made possible by the financial support of the nonprofit Child ’ s Play , which assists hospitals across the country in a variety of technology adoption initiatives .
It just so happened that the job posting coincided perfectly with Hunt ’ s post-grad career search . He joined the team in August , and they treated their first patient using VR a month later .
Currently , Hunt is the only person at CHLA implementing VR during procedures – but the team has big plans to grow the program . “ We ’ re exploring all of the ways VR can be used across departments and patient populations ,” Dr . Miller said . “ It ’ s not just for us , or even just for our patientscreating additional resources to reduce the work burden on health care team members is a huge deal .”
“ We ’ re trying to turn this program into a living , breathing resource for the entire hospital , where eventually care teams can request a VR technologist ’ s assistance as needed ,” Hunt added . p
The process
Hunt ’ s role is evolving as the program evolves and expands , he explains , but most procedures happen as follows :
“ I first spend some time with the patient to explain the process and get a feel for what game they may want to play ,” he says . CHLA ’ s VR headsets are equipped with several programs depending on the age of the patient , their level of anxiety , and the type of procedure ( some games require the patient to use only their eyes and a trigger button while keeping their head , arms , and torso still , while others enable the use of one arm or both ).
Next , Hunt invites the patient to test-drive the game so they know what to expect . He adds that he personally
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