Shopping simulators help patients recover fast

The stroke hits not only the victim but his family too. With the patient the family suffers for every decision he has to take or every act he has to perform. It takes long for them to cure and therapists also have to take every care for their recovery. Now there is good news for stroke patients and the therapists as well. Through newly invented shopping simulator therapists will be able to assess stroke victims better.

shopping simulator for stroke victims

Shopping simulator is a virtual reality system developed by Medical Device Partnering Program in collaboration with Department of Rehabilitation and aged care. This system provides patients a virtual supermarket, where they select groceries and items and collect them in a trolley. It helps the therapist understand whether these patients are able to take logical decisions or not. It is an effective way to analyze patients’ alertness. It tests their ability to inspect around them and their logical skill.

This system contains a touch screen computer and a trolley handle that is regulated by simulation software. MDPP Director, Professor Karen Reynolds, says,

The focus on cognitive assessment through the simulator enables an OT to determine a patient’s ability to undertake the everyday task of supermarket shopping. The level of complexity can be adjusted by OTs, who can specify certain groceries or set a shopping budget to ascertain the cognitive ability of each patient.

The South Australian Government provided more than $1 million fund to the Medical Device Partnering Program to carry research for developing cutting edge and useful medical devices and technologies that help people live a better life.

With the initial success of this program the researcher are optimistic that it will gain popularity and help other stroke patients in near future.

Via: Flinders