The Good Doctor and VR in Health Care

Ever seen an episode of the Good Doctor? The one with the awkward autistic kid (the same actor who played Charlie in Charlie and the Chocolate factory with Jonny Depp) who is a brilliant surgeon in the States? If not, you are missing out!

This series is full of new technological advancements in the medical and computer world. One of them was using Virtual Reality to perform a try out surgical acts on a heart, to be sure how long to make the cut and know the exact steps needed for the procedure.

Virtual Reality (VR) is broadly used in the medical world, one of the applications is for mock surgeries, but did you know that this technology can also be used for other purposes? For example: around one percent of the world population has some sort of autism disorder, and at the moment there is no cure for this problem. According to research social and communication skills of the patients can be improved by long and costly language and speech therapy which requires a certified doctor to work. Diverse company’s now offer a cheaper and less “personal space” invasive options to deliver the therapy to support the patients from their usual environment. Mobile VR devices are used to act out social interactions with autistic kids by bringing in virtual characters and situations.

This solution is still in the embryo phase, but has already shown positive results: The patients get the “real life” experience without leaving their home, which reduces unnecessary stress situations and improves the social skills significantly.

Imagine how much less awkward Dr. Murphy from the good doctor would be if he had this treatment when growing up! But to be honest, his clumsiness in social skills is part of the charm of the series, so maybe we should be happy that he did not have the opportunity of VR.