C O L U M N
THE NERDY VET
By: Chris Queen
Grounded in (Virtual) Reality
Anyone who has ever watched the Matrix films has,
I am sure, imagined what it would be like to be
able to enter a world in which anything is possible
and to experience the seemingly impossible. Virtual
reality, long the dream of nerds the world over and
a technology that for so long has promised so much
yet never really delivered, looks set to actually
make such lofty dreams a reality.
With the recent news that social media giant,
Facebook, has agreed to buy virtual reality headset
developer, Virtual VR, maker of the Rift, it seems that
virtual reality is in everyones’ thoughts yet again,
with applications beyond simply gaming. In fact,
uses potentially exist for VR in both veterinary and
pet care.
What exactly is virtual reality (VR) and why is it
even relevant to anyone who is not obsessed with
computer games? When we think of VR the vast
majority of us think of kids playing computer games
in which they are able to run around a digital
world shooting aliens, or the like. Beyond that it
doesn’t really seem to offer any useful applications.
VR involves entering a fully immersive digital
environment, in which everything that the viewer
sees is virtual, in contrast to augmented reality (AR),
which sees digital (virtual) information overlaid onto
the real world, augmenting it whilst retaining a real
world grounding. Applications of this technology
are already in existence, with Google Glass being
the obvious example, and there are loads of
additional examples that can be given, including
use in professional training.
Virtual reality, in contrast to AR, does not have the
constraints of the real world with which to work and
so users can be transported to any environment,
scene or experience that can be imagined. I
have already alluded to the fun applications, such
as experiencing what it would be like to have
superpowers, but it is the more grounded uses that I
shall delve into in more depth here.
As with most multimedia, the key uses are in both
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education, training and entertainment. The main
use that I can see pertaining to veterinary is in the
training of both new vets and also for continued
professional development of existing vets. There
are certain aspects of vet training that are often
costly, messy, ethically precarious or just downright
inconvenient, such as anatomy training using
cadavers. Replacing, or certainly supplementing,
such methods of teaching with a fully immersive
digital experience has clear advantages. A virtual
cadaver can be sourced at the click of a button,
with no limit to the number of specimens students
could train on, and can be changed quickly and
easily, so that training vets can appreciate the
surgical anatomy of a range of species, shapes and
sizes. Being fully immersive vets would be able to
view, handle and interact in a real-world manner
with learning materials, powerfully reinforcing
learning and enhancing the benefits of training,
something that ultimately improves the quality of
veterinary care provided to pet owners. Further,
specialist training could also be delivered via VR,
either from the comfort of home or clinic, or by
attending a dedicated training centre, where
a combination of real-world training and digital
learning can be delivered. Combined with haptic
technologies, the scope for life-like surgical, or
simply practical, training is limitless.