VR has become increasingly available in health-care settings, but a group of UK researchers looked at whether the content of what patients were seeing made a difference in reported pain. Study participants underwent dental treatment and were divided into three groups: those viewing a virtual reality coastal nature scene; those viewing an urban VR scene; and those with no VR at all.
Results found that participants looking at a relaxing coastal scene reported feeling less pain while they were in the dentists’ chair than either of the other groups, suggesting that exposure to nature can improve a patient’s health-care experience. The researchers note that “VR technology has patient benefits in situations where real exposure to nature is unfeasible.”
Now to find out whether insurance covers virtual reality ...
