Creating Low-Cost 360-Degree Virtual Reality Videos for Hospitals: A Technical Paper on the Dos and Don’ts

Abstract

This article will provide a framework for producing immersive 360-degree videos for pediatric and adult patients in hospitals. This information may be useful to hospitals across the globe who may wish to produce similar videos for their patients. Advancements in immersive 360-degree technologies have allowed us to produce our own “virtual experience” where our children can prepare for anesthesia by “experiencing” all the sights and sounds of receiving and recovering from an anesthetic. We have shown that health care professionals, children, and their parents find this form of preparation valid, acceptable and fun. Perhaps more importantly, children and parents have self-reported that undertaking our virtual experience has led to a reduction in their anxiety when they go to the operating room. We provide definitions, and technical aspects to assist other health care professionals in the development of low-cost 360-degree videos.

A Free Virtual Reality Experience to Prepare Pediatric Patients for Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study

“…While acquiring the 360° footage, we experienced some of the well-known pitfalls of creating VR content, many of which are previously described in a similar use of VR to prepare patients for anesthetics procedures [15]. This includes inadvertently inducing feelings of nausea in the viewer by acceleration in the VR environment.…”

“…In recent years, the use of virtual reality (VR) in medicine has undergone rapid growth with applications in surgery [11], teaching and training [12], anxiety reduction for medical procedures [13-15], and treatment for a variety of diseases [16-18]. This increase in popularity has been driven by the development of consumer-level VR headsets that use a standard mobile phone (eg, Google Cardboard and Daydream View, Google LLC; Gear VR, Samsung Electronics Co Ltd) or a PC (eg, Oculus Rift, Facebook Technologies LLC; Vive, HTC Corporation) for their computer processing.…”

Developing Virtual Reality Trauma Training Experiences Using 360-Degree Video: Tutorial

“…Until now, the extent to which cineVR has been used in medical education has been limited, with videos focused primarily in an operating room setting, using real or simulated patients [ 11 , 32 ]. Educational research on the potential of cineVR to augment trauma response training is extremely limited; to our knowledge, only one other study has been published [ 33 ].…”

Patients want to be seen: The top 3 information needs of patients with inguinal hernia

“…The majority of the patients believed that the 360˚video enhanced their understanding, especially with regard to the surgical procedural information. Retrieving procedural information is crucial for proper psychological preparation prior to surgery [22] via for instance less surprise during the day of surgery [10]. In turn, the psychological preparation will influence the outcomes of the surgery as the way people think and feel have impact on the operation outcomes [2].…”

“…If patients are better informed this could impact information provision. For example, virtual reality (VR) offers patients the opportunity to watch videos in a different form; viewers are able to experience specific environments or situations which are not available in real-life, such as the sights and sounds of receiving and recovering from an anesthetic procedure [10]. Virtual reality has been used to train physicians or residents to improve their communication skills towards the patient [11].…”