It is the question that always follows "how much does it cost", and it is almost never answered anywhere: who, in practice, can put the headset on a patient and run the session?
A care home wants to know whether a care assistant can do it. A clinic wants to know whether the physiotherapist has to be in the room. A hospital wants to know who signs. And nobody wants to find out after buying.
The short answer
RVer's intended user is healthcare professionals and trained carers. The session is always accompanied. The system is not intended for self-administration: it is not something you leave with a patient and come back to later.
Within that, who runs the session specifically is a decision for the institution, not the supplier. And there is a good reason for that.
Why the answer cannot come from the supplier
A product's intended purpose defines the type of user. It does not, and cannot, define a service's staffing structure.
Who may do what inside a healthcare institution depends on the professional framework of each role, on internal clinical governance, and on the responsibility of whoever runs the service. A device manufacturer answering "anyone can" would be saying something that is not theirs to say, and handing the risk downstream.
What is the manufacturer's job is to be clear about three things: what it is for, who the intended user is, and what the product does not do. The rest is a clinical decision.
This is not legal advice, nor advice on professional scope. The decision about who runs sessions belongs to the institution's clinical leadership, which knows its own roles, protocols and responsibilities.
What running a session actually requires
It is worth separating "running a session" from what people imagine. In practice, whoever runs it needs to:
- Choose the right content for the moment and the person;
- Recognise the contraindications and know when not to proceed;
- Read the signs of discomfort (nausea, fatigue, disorientation) and stop;
- Clean the equipment between patients;
- Know how to stop it remotely, if managing more than one headset.
None of this is an advanced clinical competence. It is equipment-specific training, included in the licence.
What to decide before buying
Three decisions worth more than any feature:
- Who the named people are. Not "the team": names. Equipment that is everyone's responsibility is nobody's, and ends up in a cupboard.
- Who decides what is appropriate for each patient. Choosing content for someone with advanced dementia is not the same as choosing for someone on dialysis. That decision has an owner.
- What gets recorded, and who reads it. The session log is raw material for the team to interpret: it is not a report that decides anything on its own.
One person can manage several headsets
The Companion app opens in the browser on any PC or tablet on the same network, with nothing to install. Each headset appears as a card: pick the scenario, play, pause, assign the patient, and trigger a remote emergency stop.
That changes the practical answer to the original question: you do not need one professional per headset. You need someone responsible for the session, who can be overseeing more than one at a time, provided the people are accompanied in the room.
Does the medical device registration say anything about this?
It says the essentials and nothing beyond them. The base product is registered in EUDAMED and with INFARMED (Portugal) as a Class I medical device, no. CDM 94571546 (Basic UDI-DI 56006195127RVERTZ), and bears the CE mark under MDR 2017/745. The documentation accompanying the registration identifies the intended user (healthcare professionals and trained carers) and excludes self-administration.
What the registration does not do is tell a Portuguese hospital which of its professional roles may operate the equipment. That was never within the scope of a device registration, and be wary of anyone who tells you otherwise.
The user manual is public and says this in full, including the contraindications and the route for reporting a serious incident.
In short
- Intended user: healthcare professionals and trained carers.
- Never self-administration. The patient is always accompanied.
- Who specifically: the institution decides, not the supplier.
- Training: included in the licence.
- One person, several headsets: possible through Companion.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to be a therapist to use virtual reality with patients?
RVer's intended user is healthcare professionals and trained carers, and the session is always accompanied. Who specifically runs it inside an institution is a decision for the clinical leadership, which knows the professional framework of its roles and its own governance; the supplier does not define it.
Can a care assistant run a session?
The intended purpose covers trained carers, so it is not excluded at the outset. But the decision belongs to the institution: it depends on internal rules, the framework of each role, and who carries the clinical responsibility. A manufacturer answering "anyone can" would be saying what is not theirs to say.
Can the patient use it alone?
No. The system is not intended for self-administration and the patient is always accompanied. It is not something to leave with a person and come back to later.
Do you need one professional per headset?
No. The Companion app opens in the browser on any PC or tablet on the same network and shows each headset as a card: pick the scenario, play, pause, assign the patient, and trigger a remote emergency stop. You need someone responsible for the session, who can oversee more than one at a time, provided the people are accompanied in the room.