Futuristic AR In The Healthcare Industry

Technology has brought a massive yet welcome change to the healthcare industry. Patients can now access some of the best diagnostic tools, new and cutting-edge treatments, and a myriad of minimally-invasive procedures resulting in less pain and quicker healing.

The access to newer treatment technologies, option of remote consultations with specialists, targeted treatments, and the availability of intuitive mobile apps have led to better outcomes. Improvement in patient care and superior healthcare facilities has enhanced the quality of life of the patients as well.

Augmented reality is currently one of the most promising digital health technologies, as was the case with Pokémon Go, which helped in changing healthcare and everyday medicine completely for both- physicians and patients.
Amidst the pandemic, with the need to limit physical contact, aspiring healthcare professionals were negatively impacted since hands-on practices and training were limited, to nearly impossible. Since a physician’s expertise relies on exposure to vast amounts of on-site patient cases, having less physical experience was bound to affect their performance.

A recent projective study showed that by the 2023, a 23% boost can be achieved in the overall performance of surgeons who are trained using a simulator such as VirtaMed’s simulator, when compared to traditionally-trained surgeons. They could be faster and more precise while performing surgical procedures.

Healthcare innovations just don’t stop surprising us!

Video games are now medicine
The unique engagement offered by video games has also been leveraged to help researchers to develop vaccines.
In June 2020, the FDA approved the first video game to be legally marketed and prescribed as a medicine in the U.S.

Developed by Akili Interactive, EndeavorRX may be prescribed by doctors for children with ADHD, in the age group of 8-12 years. The developers designed it to challenge a child’s brain where they are encouraged to focus on multiple tasks simultaneously while playing.

AR for the future of healthcare.

• AR differs from virtual reality (VR) since it does not create a 3D world where the users lose touch with reality, and it puts information into vision as fast as possible. These distinctive features will help AR to emerge as a driving force in the future of medicine.

• During a minimally invasive surgery, the surgeon performs it typically by looking at a screen, with the patient in front of them and endoscopic cameras and instruments in their hands. The developed AR system can be used in pre-operative planning to improve the performances of a surgeon involved, by providing visual information, in a procedure such as laparoscopic surgery in order to accurately find both the right points to introduce the surgical instruments as well as the apt path to reach the organ concerned.

• Augmented reality devices such as Hololens from Microsoft can project digital scenes on what we see and prepare doctors for difficult procedures

• Often patients struggle to accurately describe their symptoms to their doctors. With apps like EyeDecide, doctors can use simulation to examine the vision of a patient suffering from a specific condition.

• Consultations are taken to a new level, through sharing the patient’s perspective. The response is augmented reality (AR) gaining a rising interest from people in its use.

• Training physicians and surgeons, through AR procedures and 360° enhanced videos, helps them in learning about new products and procedures within their field, refine their knowledge and increase their retention.

The future of healthcare lies in working hand-in-hand with advances in digital healthcare technologies, such as artificial intelligence, VR/AR, 3D-printing, robotics or nanotechnology.

Zoondia, being the Best Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Development Company, and the developers of a highly sought-after product- the XZI- 360⁰, can help you stay ahead in the race with innovative and effective augmented reality and virtual reality solutions.