Hundreds or even thousands of viewers can now watch some of the world’s top surgeons as they operate, without affecting the operating theatre, thanks to the wonders of Virtual Reality (VR), says streaming media platform Giblib, which is launching its first VR app for an immersive operating room experience to enhance surgical education.

The app provides on-demand medical lectures and surgical videos in 4K and 360-degree virtual reality, the company says, giving medical students and practicing physicians an immersive and accessible operating room (OR) experience they can access from anywhere, at any time that suits them.

The app, available through the Oculus store, supports Giblib’s direct-to-consumer offering, which requires consumers to have a subscription to the company’s streaming media service and an Oculus Go headset or Oculus Rift system. Giblib says it partners with leading academic medical centres, Cedars-Sinai and Stanford Children’s Hospital, to provide engaging and informative content from the best surgeons and physicians in the world.

Launching the app, Giblib said surgical education depended largely on access to operating rooms (ORs) to learn new and updated procedural techniques from top experts, but access to ORs with leaders in every specialty is highly limited, involves lengthy scheduling, and requires significant out-of-pocket travel expenses. It said the Giblib VR app emulated a complete OR environment with 360-degree VR content of both filmed and live stream surgeries.

Giblib records each video with studio-quality 4K resolution. It says precise camera angles from the surgeon’s point of view and 360° spherical panoramas and intuitive digital overlays ensure an authentic media-based OR experience. Supporting medical staff in ORs, including nurses and surgical assistants, can also gain important insights into how to best conduct themselves during procedures and use the most up-to-date surgical and robotic equipment.

“The latest surgical techniques and procedural best practices are advancing faster than ever before, and the ability to gain access to educational content that keeps surgeons up-to-date needs to meet demand,” said Giblib CEO Brian Conyer. “Our goal is to bridge the gap between medical professionals and the knowledge they need in order to enhance their techniques in a way that is universally accessible and retains the authenticity of the learning experience.”