The metaverse has the power to fundamentally alter how we think about healthcare. It will be a more engaging, close, and enticing medical experience with a sense of support for those who need it the most. Adaptive intelligent solutions can help reduce the limitations between hospitals and patients, improving access to healthcare services, and raising overall patient satisfaction, particularly in small towns and cities.
Overview of the medical metaverse
Through blockchain technology, the Internet of Things, digital twinning, virtual reality, etc., the metaverse has come into people’s awareness. Chronic disorders including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) are still hard to manage in the present healthcare system due to issues like unequal resource allocation, poor follow-up, overworked specialists, etc. But powerful AI-powered metaverse medical platforms might be able to solve these problems.
Two decades ago, the idea of the metaverse was introduced. However, it was just starting to take off in 2021, and some saw it as the Internet’s replacement or even its pinnacle. The metaverse is now thought of as a digitally-based ternary civilization. The ternary community integrates people, machines, and materials, and people engage using digital identities.
All classes of society now have endless possibilities thanks to the metaverse’s growth. The first one is about entertainment and pleasure. In the metaverse, video games are the main source of new content and user traffic. On October 28, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg revealed on social media that Facebook has changed its name to Meta in order to better reflect the rapidly developing computer-based metaverse. The traditional retail sector, the arts, and journalism could also be impacted by the metaverse. Through the use of various digital technologies, it could also alter the type of exhibits that are on display in museums, and so on.
The conventional healthcare system and medical environment are under pressure from a variety of issues. The concept of the metaverse may point healthcare in new directions. The integration of the real world and the virtual world is being facilitated by the growth of intelligent terminals, the development of 5G, blockchain, and other infrastructures, as well as the maturation of virtual reality, augmented reality (VR/AR), and other virtualization technologies. Let’s examine how these digital technologies might be used in the healthcare sector to address current and potential future issues with the medical metaverse.
Main advantages of the medical metaverse
(1) Improve treatment of mental illnesses
The integration of actual and virtual space-time, which differs from the conventional digital medical model, is the most prominent aspect of the metaverse. The reality of the metaverse will therefore depend on a potent virtual-real interaction interface, which will complete the process of switching from a conventional planar interaction to natural interaction.
VR will be able to give patients and clinicians an entirely immersive medical experience once the virtual medical environment is infinitely close to the real medical environment and reaches the level of holographic construction and simulation. New remedies for various psychiatric problems will emerge as a result of an immersive virtual world. According to studies, the VR environment might alter psychological issues like anxiety, sadness, cognition, and even social interactions.
There is also scientific support for the use of VR in the treatment of mental illnesses such as autism, moderate cognitive impairment (MCI), schizophrenia, and dementia. People with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, anxiety and other neurodiverse conditions can learn social, behavioural, communication, and life skills in a virtual environment. New opportunities to create support for the key behaviours linked to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that advance individuals toward ideal outcomes are presented by advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology.
(2) Enhance medical education
In order to recognize objective items and settings, AR technology uses recognition and tracking algorithms. This technology also assists in overlaying virtual data in the real world to achieve virtual and real integration. Surgeons in particular can employ augmented reality visualization tools to help patients understand complex medical phenomena using 3D imaging. According to a BCG estimate, the augmented reality market share for training and simulation in medical control environments would reach 18.9% by 2024.
The medical industry has successfully incorporated XR technology thanks to Metro Health firms. Through immersion and computer vision, Medical Robots (MR) can achieve virtual real switching and higher-level virtual-real integration. By modelling the physical body, altering the virtual and real worlds through natural interactive language, and creating a virtual real connection, medical robots could become another conduit for connecting meta-medicine.
Through the use of imaging technologies like CT and MRI, doctors can gather objective data about their patients, turn that data into knowledge and intelligence through subjective consciousness, and then introduce new information into the real world in various ways. This helps information flow exclusively between individuals, as well as between individuals and objective entities.
Through the Internet, the human and informational worlds are interconnected, and as the Internet has grown, traditional medicine has given way to digital medicine. The Internet of Things (IoT) serves as a link between the physical and digital worlds. The Internet of Things has the potential to significantly impact the healthcare industry by fusing communication technologies with intelligent mobile devices. Every piece of information is continually being created, adopted, and exchanged.
Summary
A much-needed sense of community and support for those who are frequently isolated by their ailments could be provided through the medical metaverse, which could be a great place for people to connect and interact with those struggling with the same health issues. The development of digital or precision medicine will be aided by the metaverse’s rise, which will open up endless possibilities in the field of healthcare.
References
Lowery C. What is digital health and what do I need to know about it? (2020). Retrieved November 10, 2022.
Mi JP, Dong JK, Lee U, Na EJ, Hong JJ. A literature overview of virtual reality (VR) in treatment of psychiatric disorders: recent advances and limitations. Front Psych. (2019). Retrieved November 10, 2022.
Ravindran V, Osgood M, Sazawal V, Solorzano R, Turnacioglu S. Virtual reality support for joint attention using the floreo joint attention module: usability and feasibility pilot study. JMIR Pediatr Parent. (2019). Retrieved November 10, 2022.
