VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) TECHNOLOGY is not only helping patients better understand their own eyes, but also helping eyecare professionals provide a more efficient, accessible, and personalized experience.
Patients love new technology and VR provides a big wow. Adding VR devices to your practice’s suite of technology can elevate your patient experience in multiple ways, and ultimately, help you provide an enhanced level of modern care. Here’s how:
Patient Education:
VR devices can help patients understand the conditions they may be experiencing more directly. For example, VR games and devices can be used to help people understand the progression of a disease before it worsens, to increase compliance.
Testing and Diagnosis:
VR devices can assist with testing and diagnosis for conditions such as glaucoma. Devices have been designed to assist ECPs with visual field testing. They can complete tests like Esterman exams, tracking progressive changes in patients’ vision, and assessing other aspects of patients’ sight, such as color vision.
Vision Therapy: Some VR devices can also assist with therapy programs for binocular vision dysfunction through specially designed immersive games and exercises. These are designed to reduce cortical suppression and improve the eyes’ ability to work together. Some of these devices are designed to present slightly different images to each eye, forcing the visual system to work together so that the user can complete tasks. These devices can also be designed to mimic the effects of prismatic lenses used for vision therapy.
Accessibility:
In some cases, VR devices can also make it possible to provide critical eye tests to those who may not be able to access them otherwise. This technology is portable and designed for comfort, so it can be brought to patients who might not be able to easily access a clinic.
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Improved Efficiency:
Some VR devices come equipped with automated testing features and virtual testing assistants that guide patients through the tests they are completing. This frees up staff to complete other important tasks and can be particularly useful for clearing bottlenecks in pre-testing rooms.
These devices can also record data as they complete tests, shifting the role of ECPs away from collecting information and toward assessing and analyzing information. The result can be a quicker process for patients and staff.
Is virtual reality right for your practice? VR is an evolving area of technology, but there are studies that show it can be helpful in some cases. Whether VR is right for your practice ultimately depends on you, your staff, and your patients, but there are potential benefits worth considering for eyecare.
