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- Title
A Taxonomy for Virtual Reality Applications to Manage Infectious Disease Outbreaks.
- Authors
Asadzadeh, Afsoon; Rezaei-Hachesu, Peyman
- Abstract
Background: The rapid spread of infectious diseases is identified as a global concern that has forced all countries to utilize information technology more than ever before in various fields, such as healthcare, education, and business. Virtual Reality (VR) is a computer-generated simulation, which can provide a virtual world with interactive and immersive features for users. The use of VR has the potential to promote public health. Objective: This study aimed to present a taxonomy for showing the applications of VR in managing infectious disease epidemics. Material and Methods: The taxonomy is developed in two stages: (1) a literature review to gather VR applications for managing infectious disease epidemics through the search in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, IEEE, and Google Scholar, and (2) developing a taxonomy based on the previous phase and validating it through a Delphi method by 14 experts. Results: The proposed taxonomy demonstrates that during various pandemics, such as Ebola, SARS, Influenza, and COVID-19, VR has been used for different purposes, including virtual education and training, helping in diagnosis, data visualization, remote consultation/telecommunication, simulating human behaviors, simulating infection transmission and aiding in drug discovery and vaccines. These objectives and experts' recommendations were categorized into six main topics: prevention, diagnosis, treatment, follow-up, protection, and entertainment. VR applications have more highlighted in the preparedness and response phases of epidemic management. Conclusion: VR with its various capabilities has played a positive role in the management of infectious disease outbreaks. However, the use of all potentials of this technology should be considered.
- Subjects
COMMUNICABLE diseases; DISEASE outbreaks; VIRTUAL reality; INFORMATION technology; DRUG discovery
- Publication
Journal of Biomedical Physics & Engineering, 2023, Vol 13, p123
- ISSN
2251-7200
- Publication type
Article