Exploring the Metaverse’s Potential for Healthcare Innovation!

By Connie D. Figueroa Last updated May 8, 2023 0

Healthcare: The era of digital technology has now arrived. Pandemic has stimulated new health care innovations and economic strategies. Because of its revolutionary effect on patient care, digital health is rapidly becoming a key catalyst for transformation in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors.

The Covid-19 pandemic also prompted medical professionals and other innovators to develop new methods of treating patients outside of institutions. Finding models that bring health care from the hospital to the living room is essential if we are to deliver great health care to everybody.

The Internet of Medical Things, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and virtual reality are already used to train front-line pandemic workers and relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress (PTS). In this article, we explore how the Metaverse might be used in the future to improve, change, and possibly transform health care.

We are going to discuss five main areas:

1. Clinical Care

When doctors first began practicing, they were adept at picking up on patients’ mental and physical states during consultations. Telehealth, or the delivery of healthcare via electronic means, has gained popularity in recent years. However, remote care technologies have progressed rapidly as a direct result of the pandemic.

After the pandemic, 95% of hospitals and clinics will be able to offer telemedicine services, up from 43% in 2010. Most medical professionals now prefer to conduct routine consultations that don’t necessitate a physical exam over the phone or online via video conference since it allows them to more swiftly & efficiently diagnose the minor conditions that make up the vast majority of their caseload.

This will undoubtedly persist in the metaverse. Tufts University reports that the use of electronic informed consent in clinical research following telehealth delivery is one of the most rapidly expanding trends.

In addition to these developments, the Metaverse’s potential applications in clinical care are virtually limitless:

Through the use of immersive experiences modelled after surgery, the Metaverse can provide real-time guidance in the surgeon’s field of view.
With the use of the Metaverse, doctors and other medical professionals working in a sterile environment can learn, train, plan, and collaborate on medical treatments all at once. The accuracy and adaptability of surgeries will both benefit from this. Exploring the Metaverse’s Potential for Healthcare Innovation
Initially, the Metaverse will be used for simulated surgeries, imaging for diagnosis, healthcare management, treatment planning, and rehabilitation. These tools can improve the way patients learn about their diseases and treatment options.
Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can help medical staff at the point of care. When augmented reality (AR) is used in conjunction with radiography, medical professionals are able to project medical pictures directly onto patients, such as CT scans (Computer Tomography), that remain aligned with the patient’s body even when the patient moves.
Patients may find this helpful if, for instance, intravenous injections are performed with the aid of a technology like Accuvein’s, which projects a map of the patient’s veins on the skin.
Psychological experiences are not the only thing that may be manipulated with the help of extended reality headsets.

A joint venture between Zimmer Biomet and Medtronic, OptiVuTM Mixed Reality will use Microsoft HoloLens to merge the physical and digital worlds. Data sharing will allow avatars to simulate consultations, individualized treatment plans, and accurate diagnoses.

2. Monetization Through Gamification

In the future, the monetization of health data will open up new economic opportunities. The ability to “play to earn,” “learn to earn,” and “move to earn” is not limited to the realm of secondary means of support. Healthcare will become more consumers driven.

When data and blockchain are combined, information providers can earn money off of their data. Individuals will be able to profit from their health data in a consumer-driven health care system made possible by self-sovereign identity.

Success in the realm of digital healthcare depends on interoperability. In a tokenized economy powered by blockchain technology, data may be freely shared, and intellectual property can be profitably exploited.

3. Wellness

With the help of gamification, doctors and patients may have better conversations, especially in the realm of fitness and wellness, where digital coaches can lead more efficient workouts. “Move-to-earn” is another innovative idea that encourages players to get up and move around.

Gamers on the website Genopets, for instance, can earn points by going about their day in any number of active ways. Incorporating new “learn to earn” platforms is another example of how technology may improve healthcare delivery.

Consumers will be able to take greater control of their health and fitness and make more educated choices as a result. This could be done for the sake of wellness promotion, community service, or student education in the medical field. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) will play a crucial role in financial transactions.

With the help of the metaverse, mental health professionals like psychiatrists and psychotherapists may be able to treat a wide range of ailments, including but not limited to:

PTS
Anxiety disorders
Delusions
Psychosis
Hallucinations
Eating disorders

Access to mental health services for those with disabilities or who live in remote areas is another potential benefit of the metaverse.

4. Education

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality will revolutionize medical education and training.

Virtual reality enables students to experience the human body from all angles and replicate actual procedures.
Students in the medical field can use augmented reality to simulate patient and surgical encounters in order to visualize and practice new procedures. Even more so, real-life surgical procedures can be recreated such that students feel as though they are performing the procedure themselves.
Digital twins, which are virtual representations or simulations of processes, objects, or systems, will also enable healthcare providers to generate “test dummies” for patients.
Last but not least, digital twins can be utilized to foretell the metaverse outcomes of patients’ responses to pharmaceuticals, healing times from illnesses, and rehabilitation following surgical procedures.

If you want to see gamified learning in action, look no further than the Studyum app. Participants earn tokens and NFT collectibles for activities such as attending classes, watching videos, and completing assignments. The World Health Organization’s cutting-edge training facility, The Academy, is using augmented reality (AR) to show healthcare providers how to protect themselves while treating patients with the COVID-19 virus.

Instructions for donning and removing safety gear are included in the app. As an alternative to passively watching a training film, a learner can observe a figure donning and doffing PPE and then control the figure’s movements. Success will be celebrated, education will become more engaging, and data analytics will be used to target precision teaching and learning.

5. Collaborative Working

Policies like isolation, lockdowns, and mandatory quarantine have had a profound effect on how people interact with one another. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, technological mediation of communication skyrocketed.

Many traditionally offline pursuits, such as office work, schooling, and conferences, have moved online to the Metaverse, or mobile phones, thanks to the proliferation of social networking applications.

Using simple tools like digital whiteboards, health care professionals working as 3D avatars in the Metaverse can meet face-to-face & interact in real time without the need for expensive and cumbersome conference technology.
Digital twins will be used to safely test devices, systems, and procedures to find bugs and security flaws before they are deployed in the real world.
A hospital’s in-patient flow, for instance, can be replicated digitally by a healthcare application, which can then apply advanced analytics to the data and run millions of hypothetical scenarios to determine the underlying problem and evaluate viable solutions.
Because of metaverse telehealth consultations, people no longer have to limit themselves to doctors in their immediate areas.
Using nothing more than a pair of headphones, for instance, patients in the United States can consult with specialists in Australia and vice versa.
It is clear that Metaverse will be of great use in regions of the world where there is a shortage of medical experts or where getting access to care is challenging.