Virtual Reality in Labor

Dr. Melissa Wong, MD, MHDS is a board-certified Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist and an Assistant Professor of OB/GYN at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, California. She also works in the division of informatics and with the National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health. Dr. Wong has studied the use of VR to mitigate the pain associated with labor, and she is continually finding opportunities for the use of VR to enhance the field of OB/GYN.

Dr. Tony Shanks, MD, a co-host of BackTable OBGYN, joins the podcast again as a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist at Indiana University. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of Education at the institution, as well as the Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship Director.

In this episode, Dr. Wong describes the methods and conclusions of her study, “Virtual Reality Reduces Pain in Laboring Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial,” which ultimately determined that the use of VR was associated with a reduction in pain during labor compared to patients who received no intervention.

The group also discusses the potential for VR within the obstetrical and gynecologic sides of the field, as well as the field of medicine in general. Some topics that were mentioned include the use of VR for in-office procedures and patient education through visualization of complicated surgical procedures. In addition, the group highlights the potential for additional technological advancements in medicine through augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and informatics.