Virtual hospital tour

Panoramic photography can be coupled with virtual reality to allow patients and others to take a virtual tour of their hospital ahead of a procedure to allow them to familiarise themselves with their temporary surroundings and to reduce any anxiety they may have about entering an unfamiliar environment at a potentially stressful time in their lives. The reality-based VR panorama tour is discussed in detail in the International Journal of Innovation and Learning.

Adhistya Erna Permanasari, Dian Anggriawan Hidayat, Sunu Wibirama, and Intan Sulistyaningrum of the Sakkinah Department of Electrical and Information Engineering at the Universitas Gadjah Mada, in Yogyakarta, and Dayang Rohaya Awang Rambli of the Computer and Information Science Department at Universiti Teknonologi PETRONAS in Perak, Indonesia, explain how information technology has an important role to play in socialising institutions such as hospitals as public services.

Educational establishments, museums and libraries, and companies have used VR successfully to share their offering with their respective stakeholders. A 360-degree panoramic experience opens up an unfamiliar realm as well as allowing the developers to showcase their buildings, displays, and products without the user needing to pay an initial real-world visit. A VR simulation can be augmented with textual and other cues generated by the software to guide the user on their tour in a way that is perhaps not possible with a real tour of an establishment. A user might also be able to retrace their steps, take another look at a particular aspect of the tour, and even visit areas that are usually off-limits to the public.

The current work uses a veterinary hospital as a test case for a panoramic VR tour with textual cues for users to learn about the site and be guided through the tour. The team validated the user experience and the value of the textual cues using the Wilcoxon test, showing experience to be above average and in the excellent range.

Permanasari, A.E., Hidayat, D.A., Wibirama, S., Sakkinah, I.S. and Rambli, D.R.A. (2021) ‘Development of a hospital virtual tour with virtual reality-based panorama’, Int. J. Innovation and Learning, Vol. 30, No. 2, pp.119–131.