Virtual reality applications in clinical medicine.
Virtual reality, the use of computational methods to present users with a multimedia environment that simulates reality, is becoming a practical, affordable technology for the teaching and practice of clinical medicine. Although limited-fidelity virtual reality systems have been used in medical education for decades, modern, high-fidelity virtual reality systems have practical applications in areas ranging from psychiatry to surgical planning and telemedicine. Factors that limit widespread use of virtual reality in medicine include a lack of standards for the re-purposing and sharing of system components and the resultant low return on investment from custom systems. The standards issue is being addressed by economic incentives from organizations such as the U.S. military, which requires computer-based educational materials, including simulations, to be interoperable. Similarly, the low return on investment is becoming less of a factor in clinical scenarios in which virtual reality systems offer physicians and their patients experiences that are impossible or impractical to gain elsewhere.
Bergeron
Bryan P
BP
Medical Informatics Laboratory, Department of Anesthesia & Critical Care, CLN 309, Massachusetts General Hospital, Fruit Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. archetype5@aol.com
D015510:Clinical Medicine / Q000193:education*; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D008838:Microcomputers; D014584:User-Computer Interface