Democratising access to VR healthcare training has been the core ambition of ExR Education from the very beginning, and as we grow our library and community, it’s becoming a reality.

Based here in the UK, the NHS epitomises the value of democratisation with free healthcare available to anyone that needs it. But right now, the National Health Service is facing a multitude of challenges, including an ageing population, staff shortages and high turnovers, and insufficient funding, and day-to-day there is minimal availability for clinicians to either run or engage with in-person training. 

Frontiers of healthcare innovation 

Healthcare has always been a hub for innovation. If you reflect on the history of the sector, those in the industry have been pioneering treatments and technologies. From the discovery of vaccines to the implementation of artificial intelligence to expedite diagnosis, there has been a constant flow of innovations to propel patient care. 

But whilst innovations are being delivered in the healthcare space, not all have become widely accessible and therefore have created disparities in care. It is crucial that all areas can leverage these technologies to promote equity and being openly accessible is the first step. 

Harnessing healthcare expertise with VR

Extended reality (XR) which encompasses both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is a rapidly-growing sector, and the latest research predicts that the sector will be worth $9.79 billion in healthcare by 2027. 

Virtual reality in healthcare is the concept of using computer simulation to build realities that replicate real-life scenarios, and this innovative technology is reimagining medical training. VR enables companies to develop and utilise immersive experiences, to build team competencies, and accelerate cognitive understanding.

Virtual reality can be employed to: 

• Practise surgical procedures to build aptitude 
• Build operational knowledge of core medical devices and equipment 
• Simulate patient interaction experiences 

Each of these applications would enhance the capabilities of a clinician or healthcare professional and subsequently drive improved patient care. 

How VR can drive accessible healthcare training 

In-person training will remain a crucial feature of any training curriculum, but VR offers a supplementary format. One of the core advantages of VR healthcare training over traditional in-person formats is the fact that it can be accessed anywhere in the world, at any time. When you consider rare diseases, procedures, or even medical devices, often medical professionals struggle to find an opportunity to train with these rare scenarios in-person. For example, the chance may not arise in their hospital, and if it does, there is often a lack of time and resources to convert these into a training situation. So, medical professionals don’t get to extensively build and retain knowledge on the subject matter.

Virtual reality has the capacity to entirely transform medical education. It could allow increased exposure to unique scenarios for medical professionals and allow them to repeatedly practise simulations rarely seen in real life to improve psycho-motor skills.

How ExR is democratising VR healthcare training 

Whilst the introduction of VR into the healthcare space can deliver incredible benefits, it needs to be accessible to do so. Cost and the requirement of a headset are often cited as the key barriers to adoption in the sector, but at ExR, we are striving to make healthcare VR accessible to all.  

Free immersive healthcare training 

Our technology exists to empower medical professionals to develop and engage with immersive health education and scale it to be widely accessible. Our collections of leading healthcare VR content is free to NHS users, helping to address the cost barrier and supporting the nation with a unified and enhanced education programme. Not only can NHS Trusts and users access high-quality immersive training, they can co-create it. 

We collaborate with the NHS, leveraging clinician expertise to build training content that aligns with education curriculums. We utilise 360° degrees of filming to capture live procedures or training sessions. Then we incorporate VR interactive elements to create immersive experiences that NHS employees can access at any time and even repeat for continual competency improvement. 

NHS Trusts now have the opportunity to share training sessions delivered by leading clinicians and surgeons across the whole health service, bridging the gap between historically siloed practices. 

Device agnostic healthcare VR training  

Our solution helps to further alleviate barriers and widen accessibility with a device-agnostic platform. Our expansive collection of immersive training includes everything from orthopaedic surgery to medical device training and can be accessed via any device, from a laptop to a mobile phone, eliminating the need for a headset. It enables the content to be openly available at any time and empowers users to absorb themselves into crucial training scenarios. These sessions can be repeated for continuous learning to develop crucial competencies. 

Join us at the forefront of medical training 

VR is transforming healthcare training and ExR’s pioneering approach is democratising VR access. Our platform is a catalyst for change and hopes to unlock a myriad of benefits to our users.

If you are an NHS employee, sign up to our platform today.

Or if you want to leverage co-created VR content, then explore more with our team.