Compassionate Medical Technology at the Heart of Saving More Lives
By 2025, medical technology will cause a significant shift in the healthcare industry. Currently, numerous innovations are contributing to this transformation. Among these, immersive technology is at the epicenter of providing the most to patient and doctor education, surgical visualization, and disease replication to improve patient treatments and outcomes.
Before discussing the positive impact of immersive technology in healthcare, here is a quick overview of some current medical technologies benefiting this industry.
Telehealth
Telehealth allows patients to talk to doctors through their digital devices. Patients can use mobile apps to receive a quick diagnosis and healthcare advice.
Smart Inhalers
Smart Inhalers help people living with asthma manage their conditions. A tiny device attached to the inhaler keeps track of the date and time of each dose. The person can also know whether they used the inhaler the right way. The patient can then track this information on their smartphone.
Wireless Brain Sensors
Surgeons can place bioresorbable electronic sensors inside a patient’s brain. These sensors measure the brain’s temperature and pressure. This innovation decreases the number of surgeries a patient need.
3-D printing
Physicians can use 3-D printers can construct implants and joints. Surgeons can also use this innovation during surgery. 3-D-printed prosthetics match an individual’s measurements with precision. As a result, it provides patient comfort and mobility.
Artificial Organs
Bio-printing is a medical technology that allows scientists to create artificial organs. These organs can grow inside a patient’s body and replace the diseased ones. The body will not reject these organs. Artificial organs help patients who depend on organ transplants.
Health Wearables
Health wearables attempt to help patients track diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Another positive; it helps to improve their fitness.
How Immersive Technology is Saving Lives
Immersive technology, such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are saving lives. These technologies save lives by helping in areas like surgery, diagnosis, and education. Physicians and surgeons gain a better understanding of human anatomy. As a result, patients receive an improved diagnosis, treatment, and preparation for procedures. This medical technology has also proved beneficial for inpatient rehabilitation and recovery.
Immersive Surgery
Augmented Reality allows surgeons to gain acute knowledge of their patients’ anatomy. The operating physician enters MRI data, and CT scans into an AR headset, which overlays specific patient anatomy over the patient’s body. Surgeons can see the full anatomy without having to make an incision. A surgery entry point in the wrong place could damage sensitive structures.
Cardiologists can display CT images as a 3D replica of a heart in their line of sight. They can use this technique to unblock clogged arteries and save lives.
Immersive Diagnosis
With AR technology, patients can better explain their symptoms. These improved explanations enhance the determination of symptoms and declaration of diagnosis. This automation pairs well with current cutting-edge medical devices such as smart inhalers and health wearables.
When using immersive technology to treat a diabetes patient, AR allows both the patient and physician to walk through the patient’s heart, brain, and vascular system. This automation enhances the patient’s understanding of what they are tracking on their health wearables.
Absorption applications can teach people with asthma on how to use their inhalers. In turn, asthma patients can use their smart inhalers to check themselves to ensure they are using their inhaler the correct way.
Immersive Medical Education
Medical schools are immersing their curriculum with AR technology. This curriculum plunges medical students into life-saving hands-on learning experiences.
AR simulates patient and surgical encounters. These replicant surgeries allow medical students’ failures. It is better to error using AR than in a dissection lab or a real-life procedure.
AR helps medical students learn to diagnosis patients with health conditions. AR technologies also enhance continuing education. Professional physicians can watch and give feedback to students during their practice.
The practicality of Augmented Reality is another of its advantages. AR allows medical students to practice, prepping them for any real-life medical situation. This training is better than what medical students receive in a dissection lab. They can now visualize, and practice learned theories during their training.
Immersive Rehabiliation
Recovering from a brain injury, a stroke or another debilitating injury can be monotonous. More often than not, the patient/s lose motivation.
However, with the aid of AR and VR applications, they help increase motivation during rehabilitation of these patients. Patients rehabbing from a stroke, immerse themselves with learning to move their avatars. This absorption awakes sleeping nerve endings. This kind of rehabilitation therapy results in quicker recovery.
Due to the enormous impact of immersive technology in the medical industry, it has a bright future. The possibilities listed above of this medical technology is only the tip of the iceberg. AR and VR platform user cases are increasing.
Neurosurgery, Orthopaedic surgery, and the treatment of Alzheimer’s are all benefiting from these cutting-edge innovations. As this technology continues to mature, incredible live-saving breakthroughs will flourish.
