Living in today’s digital world and the conditions of the Corona pandemic have accelerated innovations in the field of health care and created new business models and opportunities for the health sector. We are well aware that the health care system is unsustainable due to long-term chronic diseases, rising costs, aging population, inadequate medical staff and limited resources, and it is necessary to find models that move health care from the hospital to the living room.

The Covid-19 pandemic has spurred innovators and healthcare workers to find ways to manage patients outside of hospitals and remotely. On the other hand, the ever-increasing spread of smartphones and the increase in the use of wearable devices has also been an effective factor in creating change and transformation in the pharmaceutical sector and care systems.

Medicine has always been a hands-on personal encounter, so that doctors can recognize physical as well as emotional responses. However, the pandemic has accelerated telecare technologies. For example, before the pandemic, 43% of healthcare facilities were able to provide telehealth services, but this percentage increased to 95% in 2020. These developments opened the door to discovery and digital and remote technologies.

There are many opportunities to use Metaverse in clinical care. Real-time guidance can be provided within the surgeon’s field of view using immersive, recreated surgical experiences. Augmented reality provides access to information inside the sterile part of the operating room, which improves the precision and flexibility of surgery.

Metaverse provides the possibility of simultaneous education, training and planning as well as joint medical procedures. Also, when combined with artificial intelligence, this technology can enhance the accuracy of clinical decision-making and ensure that interventions designed for each patient are more accurate.

Traditional access to the metaverse is depicted through a virtual reality headset. This approach has potential in healthcare using only virtual reality. Virtual reality can be used as a useful, drug-free alternative to treatment pathways – whether it’s post-surgery pain relief, childbirth pain relief, or phobia treatment.

However, virtual reality is different from the metaverse and the capability of the latter goes beyond the former. In Metaverse, instead of using a virtual reality headset, each person meets their therapist as a digital avatar through a device. Their consultation is held in a virtual office and even the patient can go to a virtual pharmacy (or virtual reality app) to order a prescription.

Then, people can meet other patient communities and share their treatment progress in avatar form and discuss new developments related to their diseases. This has provided a better user experience compared to online patient forums or current telemedicine visits conducted through a flat screen.

In Metaverse, 3D avatars of space healthcare workers will use tools like digital whiteboards to collaborate and can meet face-to-face without any sophisticated conferencing equipment. Machines, systems, and methods are safely tested through digital twins to identify defects and vulnerabilities before implementing them in a physical environment.

Initially, Metaverse will be used for surgical simulation, diagnostic imaging, patient care management, rehabilitation and health management. These technologies can speed up education about conditions or treatment plans for patients. In a clinical setting, augmented reality and virtual reality can help care teams.

When augmented reality is combined with radiology, it can give doctors the ability to project medical images such as CT scans (computed tomography) directly onto the patient, in line with the patient’s body, even while the person is moving, giving doctors a clearer view of internal anatomy. to have

Additionally, this technology can potentially improve the patient experience. For example, one can benefit from technologies such as the Accuvein vein finder for intravenous injections, which shows a map of the patient’s veins on the skin.

Summary:

In this article, we learned about metaverse and its application in the field of health. With the help of this technology, doctors will be able to provide more integrated treatment plans. In addition, patient experience and treatment outcomes are also improved. Also, the ability to share information in the shortest possible time between health professionals will lead to a faster diagnosis of the causes of the disease. Monitoring patient activity in Metaverse also enables easier tracking of patient conditions, which helps diagnose and treat diseases.

Surgeons will also meet in a virtual operating room to collaborate with other consultants and specialists in surgery. Surgeons will display the patient’s vital signs, images, medical history and other types of patient data. The new integrated technology with Metaverse can provide test results quickly and in real time.

Radiologic imaging is one area of ​​healthcare that clearly benefits from the pervasive visual capabilities of the Metaverse, creating new capabilities in radiology that include greater image visualization and manipulation for better disease/injury diagnosis, viewing dynamic images with greater detail, and Facilitating close collaboration between doctors on medical images in 3D format.