VR Hospitals To Be Used On Worcestershire Hospital Wards

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Virtual reality (VR) headsets are now being used on hospital wards to help keep patients calm during procedures. A trial at Kidderminster Hospital saw soothing sounds and visuals from them used to cut stress and anxiety. In one case, VR was used in place of sedation when a tube was inserted into a child's vein for blood sampling, staff said.

The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust says they are now a permanent feature in its hospitals. Dawn Forbes, a nurse specialist, used the technology ahead of a blood test and MRI scan for a patient with a phobia of needles. She said it enabled a cannula to be placed "quickly without causing any pain or distress."

headsets, not hospitals

[Petr Blazek]

You might want to correct the title...

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[greytree]

Don't worry, he'll fix it in the dupe.

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[VeryFluffyBunny]

No he won't.

Hall of Mirrors

[crunchy_one]

VR Hospitals To Be Used On Worcestershire Hospital Wards

Re: Helpful note for Americans

[FudRucker]

i pronounce it like this: war-chester-shire

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[Calydor]

Until you hear it spoken (a few times) that is where the brain will default to.

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[muh_freeze_peach]

And in Massachusetts, Wocester is pronounced "WOO-ster"

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[dsgrntlxmply]

I am a refugee to Worcestershire, consequent to the Sriracha crisis.

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[mrbester]

Shuh as is "whuh" or shaiyuh as in The. Sheer is a variety of drop.

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[HiThere]

I thought it was pronounced "wooster".

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[PPH]

I just ask for Lea & Perrins.

I don't like hospitals

[Burdell]

So I don't imagine a VR hospital would do anything to calm me while in the hospital.

But if they start playing the Pastoral symphony and showing nature video, I'll know I'm going home soon.

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[arglebargle_xiv]

And if they play Chopin, specifically the third movement of the Piano Sonata Op.35 No.2, you also know you'll be going home soon.

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[narcc]

For anyone who doesn't already know, part of that piece was commonly used in old computer games for the music you'd hear when you'd die. The relevant part starts at ~11:11 [youtu.be]

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[arglebargle_xiv]

Yeah, calling it by its more usual name, Marche FunÃbre or Funeral March would have given the game away.

Watching VR porn during one's vasectomy

[thesjaakspoiler]

It can't get any better.
Or maybe a sexy stand-in nurse to hold my hand.

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[Misagon]

You're not supposed to have an erection during a vasectomy.
It happens to a lot of people because the doctors work in a sensitive area, so the doctors are used to seeing it.
But while it is not something to be ashamed of, it is at the same time also not something that is encouraged.

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[know-nothing cunt]

It can't get any better.
Or maybe a sexy stand-in nurse to hold my hand.

Hand?

In place of sedation?

[sound+vision]

I would be extremely pissed if I went to the hospital for a procedure and they tried giving me a screen to look at instead of some hardcore sedatives.

I'm guessing they made a calculation that it's cheaper than an anesthesiologist or pharmacist's time.

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[Misagon]

This was to take a blood test from a child.

I've personally been to an ER where the doctors struggled for hours to get a person with mental disabilities (a big child, basically) lo be still so they could install a catheter.

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[sound+vision]

They'd struggle to stick a tube in my junk, too. Shoot me up, Scotty. I want the Michael Jackson cocktail. I thought this was about reducing suffering, where's my milk?

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[nightflameauto]

They'd struggle to stick a tube in my junk, too. Shoot me up, Scotty. I want the Michael Jackson cocktail. I thought this was about reducing suffering, where's my milk?

Reducing suffering? Modern medicine is about increasing profits, and lowering costs. Not about decreasing. . . . oh, wait. This is the UK. Not the US. Never mind. I have zero experience with a country that believes healthcare is a right, rather than a privilege afforded the rich. Excuse me.

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[groobly]

UK has its own problems. Like NHS appears to currently be in its death throes.

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[narcc]

That's just a right-wing fantasy. They've been saying that as long as I can remember.

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[skam240]

The NHS's problem is that they've been underfunded by roughly 20% compared to other socialized systems for the last decade https://www.health.org.uk/news... [health.org.uk] by the conservatives who have held power over there that long. Turns out you actually have to pay proper value for something if you want proper value out of it.

Distraction

[quintessencesluglord]

Use to be you'd have some there to reassure and distract a nervous patient (well, at least until staff were cut to the bone). Even something as simple as holding someone's hand during a difficult procedure can go a long way.

And now we are a few iterations away from Harlan Ellison's Corpse in the name of being seen as high tech and as a kinda mea culpa as to how far standards have fallen.

gimmick

[groobly]

A gimmick that doesn't work, but makes everyone's life more complicated and more expensive. But they got a press release out of it.

Seems like a very elaborate...

[VeryFluffyBunny]

...and expensive way to get patients to look away & think of something else while the doctor puts the needle/probe/instrument in. Is VR still a solution looking for a problem to solve?

It's a great sauce

[Blackeneth]

Lea & Perrins

https://www.leaandperrins.co.u... [leaandperrins.co.uk]

Accept no substitutes.