Enhancing the Veteran experience through VR

Charles Tubbs is using immersive technology and virtual reality (VR) to enhance the inpatient discharge experience for Veterans.

Tubbs, an 21-year Air Force Veteran and Customer Experience Innovation supervisor with the Veterans Experience Office (VEO), first learned about immersive technology when his office had an opportunity to use VR to address unique pain points of Veterans receiving care through VA.

Although he had no prior experience with immersive technology, Tubbs was excited about the possibilities VR could offer Veterans. "Wow, what a great opportunity to use a new modality that could improve an age-old experience in VA," he shared.

Tubbs recognized the limitations of existing training methods for VA employees. He hoped that an immersive approach would engage staff and have a lasting impact on the Veteran experience. The benefits have exceeded his expectations.

His initial excitement about incorporating VR into training was reinforced after hearing feedback from VA providers. "I wish I could go back to every patient that I discharged," one nurse remarked. "I didn't realize I had opportunities to improve communication and the overall patient experience."

Tubbs emphasized the critical role immersive technology plays in fostering insights among providers. The VR training component has added a hands-on approach to helping staff visually understand patients' unique challenges through interactive scenarios. "That was done only by using virtual reality."

The inpatient discharge journey

VEO strives to provide the highest quality of customer experience in the delivery of care, benefits and memorial services to service members, Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.

VEO developed a journey map-a tool used to understand the experience of Veterans as they interact with the VA health care system.

"In developing that journey map, we identified bright spots, pain points and what we call 'moments that matter' during the patient experience. We saw an opportunity to use VR to address those pain points and help educate our staff so they can improve the experience for Veterans," Tubbs continued.

Based on these insights, VEO collaborated with VA Immersive to develop a VR program called Moments That Matter. The application is designed to inform and empower VA staff, build empathy and improve the inpatient discharge experience.

VA providers who used Moments that Matter gained a perspective on the Veteran discharge process that could only be achieved through a truly immersive experience. During the training, providers experience a "day in the life" as a Veteran patient being discharged from a VA medical center.

Tubbs explained how VR helped providers understand the patient discharge experience in a new way: "We wanted them to experience the ups and downs of discharge focused on the primary goal of helping them understand, from the patient perspective, how they might improve the overall experience."

Collaborating to enhance standard experience

Tubbs is optimistic about what's to come for immersive technology in VA. "One of the exciting things about VEO is that we are always looking at what's next," he said. "It's so exciting to know that we are not just hanging our hats on the successes of the past, but that we're looking forward to how we might improve care delivery for Veterans. It will help Veterans choose VA in the future as well."

VA has deployed over 3,700 VR headsets across more than 170 VA medical centers and outpatient clinics in all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa with over 40 documented use cases and over 10,000 Veteran experiences to date.

To learn more, visit the VA Immersive website and watch the YouTube playlist.

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