The health industry has experienced many problems, especially during the pandemic period, due to the inability of institutions to meet the needs of the increasing number of patients and also the inability to keep the quality of care at high levels. Despite the rapid increase in the adoption rate of new technologies in this period, unfortunately, it is not fast enough to serve a large number of patients who require health care. Augmented Reality (AR) can be easily integrated into healthcare organizations in myriad ways and provides organizations with a wealth of data collection tools that can be used to improve the quality of care. AR can also be integrated into surgeries and medical education, digitally transforming the entire organization and industry from the inside out.
AR technology is used to add value to real-world scenarios by placing and displaying real-time digital information and media, such as videos and 3D models, into your desired field of view.
How Augmented Reality Can Help the Healthcare Industry
AR can redefine how providers deliver care to patients with chronic conditions in a variety of ways. AR technology allows real-time remote sharing of medical knowledge, skills, and expertise, ensuring that the recipient (patient and staff) can receive timely information from the doctor or administrative staff. Medical staff can complete tasks more accurately and efficiently, allowing them to serve more patients with a higher level of quality care. AR can also be used to improve patient education about pharmaceutical products by visualizing complex instructions via 4D holograms.
AR applications can be used to better illustrate the impact of certain diseases and lead to seamless patient/doctor interactions in an advanced and simulated environment that can collect usable patient data. Customize maintenance plans. After leaving the hospital, patients can use AR technology to continue their treatment at home, thus reducing the rate of hospital readmission for the same treatment.
- Surgeries
There were 48 million surgical inpatient procedures performed in the US in 2009. The following year, that number was 51.4 million and has been climbing ever since. There are more than one million spinal surgeries performed in the USA alone. This increase in demand for surgical procedures is urging doctors to be more efficient and effective with their maneuvers while maintaining the same high-quality care.
This task is made possible through the integration of AR hologram images, which gives surgeons a better view of the patient’s body makeup and allows them to digitally plan the procedure accordingly. This increased effectiveness leads to a reduction in the incidence of medical malpractice and errors during surgery, ultimately allowing doctor-patient relationships to improve. The effect of using AR in surgery could also mean improved outcomes, possibly reducing costs down the road.
- Medical Education
One of the biggest advantages of AR is that it can clearly illustrate and visualize complex concepts for the next generation of healthcare professionals. “Augmented Reality empowers surgeons and other healthcare professionals to explore the human body in detail and advance medical education,” explains Irma Rastegayeva, Key Board Member of the American Board of Trustees of Health. AR applications offer healthcare professionals of all skill levels and discipline the ability to visualize and interact with accurate representations of the human body rather than relying on printed information for guidance.
The use of Augmented Reality to train employees or students of any education level provides an immersive, multi-sensory experience that provides a deeper education and speed for mastery. There will no longer be a need to disseminate real human cadavers to provide students with an in-depth look at human anatomy. Instead, AR will be used to project a holographic cadaver with simulated internal organs and information about every part of the body the student wants to interact with. Many who have experienced these holographic mannequins feel that they offer a much more realistic and responsive simulation that is close enough to reality so that they can easily adapt their training to real-life scenarios.
- Vein Scanner
While having a blood draw is not a good experience for many patients, it is a difficult situation for doctors or nurses. Not being able to detect the vein while taking blood from some patients presents bad situations for both the patient and the nurse who will take blood. The situation is getting worse, especially for children and the elderly. Unless the vascular access can be detected, it is constantly searching for veins and trying to get blood. Thanks to augmented technology, it has recently developed a portable vein scanner. The vein scanner is held on the skin and shows doctors and nurses the exact location of the veins in the body. This provides healthy blood.
- Drug Use
Today, augmented reality is changing healthcare technology, allowing patients to see how medicine works inside their bodies in 3D. It also helps laboratory technicians and employees monitor their experiments with augmented reality software.
- Vision Problem Ends With Augmented Reality Applications
Today’s technology is slowly bringing a boom in the healthcare industry. Augmented reality glasses provide new possibilities for people who have difficulty seeing. Google created these contact lenses with the help of Swiss drug manufacturer Novartis, which detects the blood sugar level in your eyelids. These lenses are based on Augmented Reality technology and help everyone measure their glucose level and stay healthy. Sometimes patients cannot accurately describe their problems to their doctors. Especially in ophthalmology, augmented reality plays a vital role in identifying patients’ problems. To understand the symptoms of the disease and their true condition, these applications can show the effect of cataracts or AMD.
