When it comes to medical virtual reality (VR), although there are developments being made there is often a clinical feel to the applications, benefitting the quality of the medical research or operations. A group from the University of Illinois Chicago has created an interactive VR project to highlight how elderly patients feel during diagnosis, called We Are Alfred.
The aim of the project is to educate medical students in anticipation of a growth of elderly people in the US. Using an Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 (DK2) and a Leap Motion hand tracking device, students become Alfred, a 78-year-old patient going through cognitive diagnosis. There are five scenes that the viewer can experience, all of which are realistic to what a regular elderly patient would experience, including Happy Birthday Song, Day Dream, Wine Spill, Waiting Room, Taking the Cognitive Test, and Follow Up With the Doctor.
The experience is far from advancing medicine in itself, but puts emphasis on the humanitarian approach to medicine, as the user will experience sight and hearing loss to experience the frustrations of what Alfred might experience. “The project is focusing on comfort,” said Eric Swirsky, clinical assistant professor of biomedical and health information sciences and a faculty adviser for the project. “It’s not curing, it’s not curative, it’s not even treatment-oriented. It’s about comforting and understanding where the patient is so that you can be with him.”
