With the ongoing pandemic landscape, there’s an emerging topic in the field of healthcare, referred to as the Metaverse, which is causing a huge amount of excitement. To gain an in-depth understanding of the Metaverse, we must first look at its definition.
Metaverse can be explained as an augmented virtual world derived by the convergence of virtual and physical space where users can interact and meet each other virtually and immerse themselves in carrying out virtual activities that give real experiences.
It is constantly evolving but holds new potential benefits in the healthcare sector that combines technologies such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, augmented reality, intelligent cloud, internet of medical devices, and much more, to provide new directions to healthcare.
In recent years, the Metaverse has been expanding on its AR and VR healthcare technology, showing incredible progress and empowering patients to receive care anytime and anywhere.
In this article, we look closer at the amazing potential benefits of the Metaverse in healthcare and what it could mean for this sector.
Transforming Surgery
One of the most promising elements VR provides to the medical industry is the use of 3D models by surgeons to plan surgeries. By visualizing a complex 3D body on paper, it doesn’t give the whole picture. And that’s one of the main reasons why 360° graphics are at the forefront and will also be a better way for patients and doctors to communicate.
Before surgery, the surgeons must get as accurate images as possible of the body part that is being operated on.
VR smoothly blurs the line between the physical world and the computer simulation as surgeons can use the latest versions of virtual reality glasses to interact in a three-dimensional space with the organ that requires surgical treatment, see it from any angle and be able to switch between 3D view and real CT scans. Virtual tools make everything more convenient in operating rooms and make surgeons feel more empowered.
Helps Fight Memory Loss
In 2021, there were 6.2 million cases of Alzheimer’s disease registered in America. Memory loss can affect several families around the world and it becomes difficult to find out what happens in the brain when memories are formed or recalled. With this worrying situation, it becomes important for neuroscientists to gain a deeper insight into the subject.
They try to understand what happens to the brain when new information is passed on to it. They also use a combination of brain implants and VR data for an immersive real-life experience and capture brain signals and oscillations for a clearer picture.
Patient Participation
By putting on a VR headset with loaded scans and images, patients can get a preview of the surgery that the doctor wants to perform to help them better understand the process. But this isn’t the only way patients use medical VR. Psychiatrists and psychologists also use VR to help patients with bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, post-stroke rehabilitation and more.
The simulations put people in stressful situations so that doctors can teach them to recognize when they occur and teach them how to cope with them. These simulations help cancer patients treat pain and anxiety and provide them with tools for self-management.
Treat Mental Disorders
Many elderly people and people with mental illnesses don’t always have the chance to go out and experience life. The VR glasses method can increase the quality of life by offering specific experiences. This isn’t a substitute for the real world, but technology creates opportunities where the physical world ends. For the disabled, it can mean a feeling of freedom of movement.
VR can be introduced in healthcare to relieve anxiety and stress, as well as increase the quality of life. It is about being able to embody someone else, to be somewhere else, to be able to relieve, for example, pain or anxiety without heavy drugs. It also allows people in a bad situation to experience the positive things in the world without any demands or distractions.
Final Thoughts
Meta is demonstrating the great process with its AR/VR technologies and transforming the healthcare sector and will continue to do so soon. An increasing number of companies will have to figure out how to use this technology in a safe manner but also in a way that meets the human aspects.
VR solutions in the metaverse can significantly facilitate not only the symptoms but also the process of treating the condition causing those symptoms. Although AR and VR technology is very promising for healthcare, it must be developed in a way that does not encroach upon or go beyond the sensitive and human patient-doctor relationship that has long defined healthcare.
