Virtual reality (VR), is the capability to interact with a space or object digitally reproduced to simulate an actual experience. VR is typically used in healthcare settings to help improve the movement of patients in rehabilitation or to offer distraction and relaxation during medical procedures. However, VR is in its early stages of adoption and use within the clinical setting. This article is a scoping review identifying barriers and facilitators to the implementation VR in healthcare settings.

The majority of the obstacles that were identified by this study related to the adopter system categories and organizational categories within the NASSS framework. These included the requirement for healthcare providers to receive education and training regarding VR, the lack of evidence and research on the value of virtual reality in the context of treatment, and the perception of a lack of confidence and self-efficacy to use VR in the treatment of patients. A number of studies suggested the utilization of behavioral change techniques like education and training https://www.iptech.one/what-is-a-virtual-data-room or intervision groups to assist clinicians in their decision-making process with regard to VR use.

Facilitators were less often identified in the context of the young patient’s age, which could be more open to new technology and feel more comfortable with it or the fact that VR can provide an immersive and interactive learning environment that stimulates the senses as well as fostering deeper understanding of complex scientific concepts. Additionally, the capacity of VR to replicate real-world environments such as the surface of planets, or the structure of atoms makes it a useful education tool for students to explore and experiment with complicated and abstract ideas that are difficult to grasp in traditional classroom settings.