“Prick the patient’s index finger,” stated the voice in my ear. As the lancet in my hand was about to make contact with flesh, it cautioned me: “Avoid pricking the pad of the finger because it contains more nerve endings which will be more painful.”

Using Meta Platforms Inc.’s Quest 2 headset, I was conducting the primary nursing process of my life in a extremely genuine virtual-reality setting, full with gloves, cotton swabs, disposal bins and, sure, a affected person ready for me to attract blood to test its glucose stage. The VR coaching program, which helped even a novice like me get it proper the primary time, has been designed by younger techno-entrepreneurs from Chennai, in India’s south.