Johnson & Johnson is Training Doctors in the Metaverse

In late April, the Johnson & Johnson Institute and Johnson & Johnson MedTech opened its first Innovation Room for Mexican doctors. This is a training space for doctors, surgeons and other health professionals that offers the latest technology in medical devices and training simulators for surgical procedures.

Both the metaverse and virtual reality (VR) are going beyond lifestyle applications and revolutionizing healthcare practices. In the case of medical training, medical students currently learn on dead bodies, which do not behave the same way a live patient would. In VR professionals can view minor details of any part of the body in a 360° computer-generated reconstruction and create training scenarios that replicate common surgical procedures. Coupled wit the metaverse, which integrates VR, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and connectivity, this tool aims to create a more immersive, experiential and interactive training experience.

Johnson & Johnson’s Innovation Room will allow doctors and surgeons to rehearse in a virtual environment what they will later do in a real operating room. It will also increase the options for continuous education with state-of-the-art technology for specialties such as: colon cancer, orthopedics, electrophysiology and plastic surgery.

Through the Oculus Quest 2 headset and controllers, a doctor can practice in the virtual reality simulator inside a virtual operating room, choosing both the level of difficulty and the procedure to be perfected.

“These are the most innovative technologies in the market and that guarantees continuous medical education in Mexico. In this way, surgical techniques can be refined to contribute to increasing access to cutting-edge and safe surgeries,” said Laura Ortíz, Leader of Professional Education, Johnson & Johnson MedTech Mexico.

Johnson & Johnson has 12 agreements with institutions and universities in Mexico to provide this innovation for free. With this initiative, both organizations hope to benefit about 300 medical students, doctors and surgeons from all educational institutions and hospitals, particularly within the metropolitan area of Mexico City.