Monthly Insights
Virtual Reality in Healthcare Clinical Practices
Mar 2025 – Clinical Trial Results (Oncology): Vanderbilt University researchers reported that a VR “virtual travel” experience significantly reduced pain and stress in chemotherapy patients. In a study published in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, patients who explored calming VR environments (like virtual tours of Venice or the Amazon) during infusions had lower heart rates and stress/pain scores than a control group news.vumc.org.
Apr 2025 – VR for Pediatric Procedure Pain: Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Ohio) piloted a VR game as a non-pharmacological tool to manage pain and anxiety in children undergoing medical procedures. In this pilot across multiple departments, clinicians found that using a fun, immersive VR game during painful procedures (e.g. burn dressing changes, needle sticks) helped kids tolerate procedures better without prolonging visit times pediatricsnationwide.org.
May 2025 – VR for Caregiver Anxiety (Mental Health): A Stanford Medicine study published in Journal of Patient Experience showed that guided VR meditation can markedly reduce anxiety in parents of hospitalized children. Using a six-minute VR meditation (immersing the parent in a tranquil nature scene with breathing guidance) led to about a 30% drop in anxiety among participants med.stanford.edu.
Virtual Reality in Medical Practices and Surgery
Mar 2025 – VR in Heart Surgery (Pediatric): Children’s Hospital New Orleans (Manning Family Children’s) became the first in Louisiana to use a VR segmentation platform (Elucis) for pediatric heart surgery planning. In a groundbreaking neonatal case, the team created an interactive 3D model of the infant’s heart, allowing surgeons to “step inside” and plan a complex repair manningchildrens.orgmanningchildrens.org.
April 2025 – Surgical Training Innovation: Canada-based PrecisionOS announced the launch of FractureLab– an orthopedic surgery training module in VR that offers unlimited, safe practice for managing complex fractures. Unveiled April 30 in Vancouver, this VR curriculum lets orthopedic residents repeatedly rehearse fracture treatments (like reductions and fixations) in an immersive, hands-on environment PrecisionOS Launches FractureLab: Unlimited, Safe, Real-World Fracture Training for Orthopedic Residents - PrecisionOS
Virtual Reality in Dental Practices and Surgery
April 2025 – Global Survey on VR Training: New research led by University of Eastern Finland highlighted both excitement and hurdles around VR in dental education. In a survey of 156 dental institutions worldwide (published in Frontiers in Dental Medicine), over 90% expressed strong interest in VR with haptics for training students medicalxpress.com.
Frontiers | Insights from the global education survey on the use of VR-haptics in dental education
May 2025 – VR vs. Sedation in Pediatric Dentistry: Findings presented at the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry 2025 meeting underscored limitations of VR as a sole anxiety-management tool. In a crossover study of 62 children (5–12 years old) undergoing dental work, researchers compared VR distraction to nitrous oxide sedation aapd2025.eventscribe.net.