Virtual Reality is set to revolutionise the Healthcare industry. We at Skyne work closely together with the healthcare sector to improve the customer experience and have seen a considerable increase in the use of VR in the healthcare sector. Last week, we invited our friend and young entrepreneur Freek Teunen from the Netherlands to introduce his concept PlaygroundVR.
PlaygroundVR aims to make hospital visits for children more bearable with the use of VR. Stressful moments for patients will become more entertaining and less painful, ultimately impacting a reduction of healthcare costs.
From the start of VR to a virtual playground
In 2012, Oculus initiated a Kickstarter to launch a Virtual Reality (VR) headset that would enable you to immerse yourself in a virtual environment that felt real. The technology had been around since the 1980s but had finally advanced enough in 2012 to evolve into the first consumer VR headset. Now, the market is growing, and especially the healthcare sector is interested in the technology. The Dutch company PlaygroundVR envisions a future of VR in healthcare and developed a virtual playground so children can play with each other while being in the hospital, just like they would do outside.
Playing is vital
Playing is a social, creative and healthy activity. However, pediatric patients in hospitals can’t enjoy this activity in the same way children outside the hospital can. Patients are often tied to their bed and are limited in the ways they can play. While playing is vital for children to recover and get better sooner. PlaygroundVR saw an opportunity to use the VR technology to bring the playground to the hospital bed. The VR application connects pediatric patients wirelessly, and via audio children can talk with each other and discuss what they want to do including the rules of the game they create together. The VR environment is friendly and facilitates creativity to play and discover. That means there are no mini-games nor leaderboards, but balls, trees and sticks instead.
Not only is PlaygroundVR creating a future for children at hospitals, but its platform MedKitVR will also enable other developers to create applications that can run on their VR headsets. By lowering the barriers of entry for developers, it will be easier to get new software in the hospitals. The headsets are hygienic and always up-to-date, and the hospital staff will be trained by PlaygroundVR to use VR.
PlaygroundVR in the UAE
The company is now expanding its VR healthcare services to the UAE. If you are interested in more information or a demonstration, please feel free to contact us.
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