Using Virtual Reality to Prevent Erb's Palsy

Erb’s Palsy is a medical condition that affects 1 out of 1,000 births in the United States. It just so happened that I was one of the 1,000. In many cases, this injury results in total or partial paralysis of the hand (OrthoInfo, 2019). As I grew up, my curiosity about my limitations grew, and I began educating myself to learn what caused my disability and how it set me apart from others. Many of the simplest daily tasks proved challenging, like tying my hair or buttoning a shirt.

Erb’s Palsy is caused by excessive pulling or stretching of an infant’s head and shoulders during a difficult or prolonged delivery (OrthoInfo, 2019). The obstetrician’s inability to maneuver the baby during shoulder dystocia, when the baby’s shoulders get stuck inside the narrow birth canal, is a major risk factor. I started researching the idea that the problems during delivery could be avoided if the medical education for the obstetric team had prior practice sessions on a simulator based on patients’ medical data and anatomy, making them more prepared to navigate any challenge and less likely to make mistakes, resulting in safer deliveries (Erickson, 2017).

Medical learning techniques have strayed away from the typical learning methods of learning surgery by watching a professional perform it and providing assistance as technology has begun to make an influence on the medical world (Evans & Schenarts, 2016). One method becoming increasingly popular for medical training is Virtual Reality (VR), where a computer simulates an environment with scenes and objects that appear real when perceived through a VR headset, allowing one to immerse themselves by seeing a virtual human body from various angles and scales and learn how to perform surgery (Iberdrola, n.d.). Furthermore, using simulators to teach surgery has positively impacted students’ learning as they receive feedback for mistakes and learn how to perform surgery without human consequence (Seymour et al., 2002). The American Board of Internal Medicine is aligned with residents to be trained by simulation tools before attempting any interventions on patients because it has been more effective (J Adv Med Educ Prof, 2018).

HealthScholars, founded in 2017, is committed to improving patient care and safety by bringing VR solutions to the medical domain. It is important to have different perspectives when building technology for the labor and delivery room because women of color are more likely to experience maternal health complications or be denied proper reproductive health care (National Partnership, 2018). HealthScholars comprises a diverse group of people, including a female medical director, Pam Martin, and an Asian engineering lead, Akmal Hisyam Idris, and takes these varying perspectives into account. VR applications for health training are complex, and healthcare working professionals are involved in every phase of product development. Healthcare professionals have the medical knowledge, as well as first-hand experience dealing with patients and identifying symptoms, to contribute to developing realistic VR training applications (Idris, 2022). A medical simulation for VR needs diverse working groups of nurses, doctors, and engineers in mechanical, animation, video, graphics, and cloud services.

While VR has the potential to revolutionize medical education and patient outcomes, it has limited accessibility due to the prohibitive costs associated with new technology. Still, VR system designers prefer their products to be received worldwide, even if it means lowering the system’s price for affordability. Naomi Muinga from Nairobi, Kenya, proposes an idea for producing VR for low and middle-income countries. The standalone VR headset avoids the need for powerful computers, unlike the first generation of VR headsets which needed connections to powerful computers and laser tracking systems, enabling wider adoption of VR (Muinga & Paton, 2019). Women are more likely to experience VR sickness than men, posing another major challenge to the success of VR. When VR is used, The vestibular system in the inner ear, which conveys our sense of motion and balance, does not match the eyes’ perception of motion, causing nausea. Recent VR technology restricts the field of view, reducing VR sickness and making the product more inclusive (Adhanom et al., 2021).

Engineering becomes more effective and inclusive as individuals with different experiences and perspectives become prominent contributors, as shown by the emerging innovative solutions. VR has the potential to revolutionize medical training as it becomes more accessible to other countries, low-income families, or people with limitations. The most important thing to me is for the labor and delivery room to become a safe place for patients and give more babies a healthier start in life.