#275 VR in Healthcare with Almira Osmanovic Thunström

November 5, 2021 Podcast, Guest show 00:36:16

Show notes

Virtual reality has had its big breakthrough in the gaming world, but what applications for this technology are there in helping the wellbeing of people who are ill? Almira Osmanovic Thunström is a Business Developer and Doctoral Researcher at Sahlgrenska University Hospital. She has spent years conducting research within the fields of AI and VR for healthcare and psychiatry in particular. She’s been figuring out what works, what the dangers are and how truly powerful these headsets can be when it comes to penetrating our perceptions of reality.

We talk to Almira about her research and her curiosity, how she’s always wanted to take things apart to understand their inner workings. One challenge in particular catches our attention: with all the rigor around the approval of medical equipment, how does Almira get around the bureaucracy and limits of even being able to purchase these devices for her research, and what further privacy conundrums are unveiled when VR headsets require Facebook accounts?

Take note that we touch upon the sensitive subjects of suicide as well as palliative care.

(Listening time: 36 minutes, transcript)

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