Virtual reality and AI are now part of how hospitals train staff and care for patients. Surgeons rehearse procedures in VR, nurses practice spotting sepsis in simulated wards, and clinicians use AI roleplays to rehearse conversations such as end-of-life care. Staff are largely supportive: in a Health Foundation survey, 76% of NHS staff said they supported using AI for patient care.
Here are nine examples of how hospitals and healthcare providers use VR and AI, mostly for training.
1. Great Ormond Street Hospital: 3D anatomy for training
London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, with engineers from University College London, developed VheaRts, a VR platform with a library of 3D anatomical models for lectures, surgical meetings and patient consultations. Pediatric cardiologists in Johannesburg joined a virtual workshop on congenital heart disease led from London, without travel or disruption to clinical services.
2. Bromley Healthcare (NHS): AI communication training
Bromley Healthcare, which provides NHS community health services in South East London, worked with VirtualSpeech on AI roleplays for emotionally challenging conversations, such as end-of-life care discussions with patients and families, and handling frustrated callers. Staff practice balancing empathy, clarity and sensitivity in a safe setting before the real conversation.
3. Asociación Asperger Madrid: social skills practice
This nonprofit used VirtualSpeech VR to give people with Asperger syndrome a safe space to practice social situations, such as a conversation in a doctor’s office. Participants showed a 10% improvement in social skills when interacting with strangers.
4. LifeArc: drug design in 3D
Medical research charity LifeArc uses VR so chemists can design molecules in 3D and review them together, improving their understanding of how drugs interact with their targets.
5. Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: sepsis training in VR
With Goggleminds and the University of Bath, the trust uses immersive simulations to train medical students and staff to spot and treat sepsis, as well as asthma and anaphylaxis, outside ward areas.
6. UConn Health: orthopedic surgical training
UConn Health replaced some costly cadaver practice with VR, letting residents rehearse whole cases repeatedly while instructors see exactly what they see. It has reported training up to 570% faster than traditional methods.
7. Inova Mount Vernon Hospital: VR for pain relief
The hospital uses VR headsets with guided meditations and immersive experiences to reduce pain and anxiety in its emergency departments, especially for children facing procedures.
8. NHS Blood and Transplant: transfusion science training
NHSBT’s VR app lets learners work through the full blood transfusion testing process in a virtual lab, with feedback on their performance, opening the training to students without a physical laboratory.
9. America’s Essential Hospitals: nurse readiness
This network of nearly 400 nonprofit and public hospitals partnered with Osso VR to give nurses practical VR training, a scalable option for resource-constrained hospitals.
Bringing VR and AI training into a healthcare organization
- Start with a high-risk, high-frequency skill. Clinical procedures such as sepsis recognition, or conversations such as breaking bad news, where mistakes are costly and real practice is limited.
- Combine VR and the browser. VR suits hands-on and immersive simulations; browser-based AI roleplays let staff practice conversations between shifts.
- Build scenarios around your own patients and pathways, so practice matches the situations staff actually face.
- Teach a framework, then practice it. In our data from 2,435 clinical communication roleplays, opening and closing the consultation were the weakest skills. See communication in healthcare.
- Measure skills before and after, and share the results with clinical leads.
Frequently asked questions
How is virtual reality used in healthcare?
For surgical and clinical training, anatomy teaching, communication practice, patient pain and anxiety relief, rehabilitation and drug design.
How do hospitals use AI for training?
AI roleplays let clinicians and support staff practice difficult conversations, such as end-of-life discussions and frustrated patients or callers, with feedback after each attempt.
Is VR effective for medical training?
Hospitals report faster training and better preparedness. UConn Health reported training orthopedic staff up to 570% faster than traditional methods.
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