In the last 20 years, as per reports, America has seen about a 200% increase in the deaths rate caused by opioid overdose. However, on reflection, many of these deaths were found to be preventable. Opioid overdose can be reversed with the help of a drug called Naloxone or Narcan. In more than 40 states of America, it is widely available to anybody who demands it even without a proper medical prescription.
People have the freedom to carry the drug if they come across a person who is undergoing an opioid overdose. But the problem that comes in such situations is people do not know when a person is going through an overdose and how to administer the drug once they know about it. Healthcare providers are usually given special treatment in such cases, and before the pandemic, many health organizations were involved in providing in-person training to the public for combating such situations.
However, these training types are not practicable in the current scenario, where social distancing is of utmost importance. Hence, a group of interdisciplinary researchers has developed an immersive video by using virtual reality (VR) that would help people train better for a situation if they ever experience an opioid overdose themselves or encounter a person going through it.
This new and interesting use of Virtual Reality further develops the VR Market as the study helps to prove that Virtual Reality can be used for providing training to people. Also, it is as effective as in-person training. It provides the public with the necessary information and confidence they would need to administer narcan and save lives.
The new training method deals with a crucial issue as overdoses do not occur in hospitals but public places while people are going about their daily lives. So, it is essential for people and frontline workers to have the ability to administer necessary first aid that can prevent deaths.
The researchers tested their VR Method by teaching a part of people with in-person training and other parts with VR training. They concluded that people who receive VR training could gather as much knowledge as people with one-on-one personal training were able to get. The aim of this new training method is not to change the form of training altogether but to provide people with an alternative in case they cannot go to physical ones.
The team will continue to test its VR training further by making it available to the public with the help of public health organizations, libraries, and other local stakeholders.