Oxford Medical Simulation (OMS) is utilising Oculus technology to deliver virtual reality (VR) medical training to National Health Service (NHS) professionals.
As one of twelve firms joining the NHS Innovation Accelerator (NIA) programme, OMS was identified as an innovator to provide remote solutions to NHS staff during the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown.
The Boston, Massachusetts-based firm OMS, offers VR patient management training to doctors and nurses to improve patient care.
The platform also aims to supply healthcare facilities with accessible and affordable eLearning environments, and users can run it from either a desktop or Facebook Oculus Rift-S headset.
OMS’s award-winning VR immersive solution takes advantage of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to simulate patient behaviour and conversation, offering realistic interactions with trainees as they use medical props to diagnose acute illnesses.
Repeatable VR scenarios give doctors and nurses efficient training methods to receive consistent, personalized feedback, and others can collaborate simultaneously to diagnose a patient.
OMS Medical Training in Practice
OMS solutions has been integrated into NHS learning centres in Blackpool and Cambridge and has seen a great deal of success across the UK.
The news comes amid a nursing shortage in early 2021, which led to the UK government to award £15 in funding to selected universities to promote VR training.
Funded research shows VR simulations could half training times, providing efficient and self-directed study for a wave of new nurses.
The NHS Diabetes Programme also recommended the adoption of OMS’s VR solution to train junior doctors in diabetic emergencies.
With support from Danish Pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, OMS ran trials for diabetes training at University Hospital in Southampton and Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
The trial determined whether OMS VR training could boost confidence and clinical competency in junior doctors, and 100 percent of respondents said the VR scenarios were suitable and saw the potential to improve their daily practices.
One participant spoke highly of the solution, stating: “Honestly this was the single most useful learning experience I’ve had so far in my medical training.”
Currently OMS is expanding the solution across Europe and the United States, and the firm’s partnership with the NHS is just the start.
The overwhelming success and support shown during the NHS collaboration may allow global healthcare professionals to use the solution in the future.
