Metaverse in Healthcare Market, Detailed Analysis,- Market size, TAM, SAM, Trends , Use Cases, Investment Opportunity and Forecast

What is Metaverse in Healthcare Market?

The metaverse is an enhanced virtual environment generated by the confluence of physical and cyberspace, in which users may interact inside the augmented reality, virtually meet one another, and immerse themselves in virtual activities that give real-world experiences.

While Metaverse is still in its early stages, it has enormous potential in healthcare by combining technologies such as AI, VR, Augmented Reality, IoMD, Web 3.0, intelligent cloud, edge, and quantum computing, as well as robotics, to open up new pathways in healthcare.

Metaverse has become a very hot topic in the technology industry in the recent past. Especially when the world’s largest social media company Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021, a lot of businesses and investors started taking the metaverse very seriously. Staticker is tracking every minute detail and development in the metaverse world and has released industry updates on several topics like metaverse in gaming and metaverse in defense and aerospace.

Healthcare is one of the most highly regulated industries in the world, and compliance is an ongoing nightmare for most healthcare organizations. A metaverse in healthcare could help improve the security and compliance of patient information, as well as streamline routine business processes. Additionally, a metaverse could increase engagement across the entire healthcare organization, improving communication and collaboration between departments.

Metaverse in healthcare can also allow patients to access their medical records from anywhere in the world, without having to download or transmit sensitive information. A metaverse can also be used to securely share patient data with doctors and nurses around the world, improving collaboration and patient care, a metaverse could also be used to securely store drug manufacturing and supply chain data, helping to prevent dangerous products.

Staticker defines metaverse as the immersive, 360-degree VR environment which is interactive, and real-time and allows performing work individually or in a collaborative manner. Hence, the most important thing about the metaverse is actually performing a task in a virtually simulated environment. In the current situation, specific to healthcare, the technology finds the highest adoption in areas like education & training and is further making its way in many other product segments like surgery rehearsal, mental health & wellness, anesthesia & pain management, and many more.

So, what can be examples of a metaverse in the healthcare sector? Well, there are endless possibilities and some of these are:

• Metaverse is very effective in healthcare training and education The technology is being used to train healthcare professionals by immersing them in a virtual environment. For example, several nurse training institutes have started using the training solutions offered by companies like Ubisim, which mimics real-life settings, to improve their program efficiency. Staticker interviewed over 50 healthcare experts out of which 38 agreed that in immersive VR training, healthcare professionals are more emotionally connected and focused on the training module which leads to better and quicker learning experiences.

“Just imagine a virtual replica of a patient, in from of the practicing doctor or a trainee, who is in a state of cardiac emergency. The patient is going restless with central chest pain/discomfort in the chest. The practicing doctor is using all his efforts just what he would have done in the real-world scenario to save the patient. Moreover, to every treatment/medication given, the patient is also responding just as the real one. This can be many such examples and this is what Metaverse is capable of doing in the healthcare training applications.”

• Surgical rehearsals and immersive visualization of body parts are already being done using VR technology. Surgical rehearsal simulators built on metaverse will allow surgeons to touch, feel, visualize and perform surgical steps in an immersive virtual environment prior to actually doing it on the patient.

“Here, just think of a patient who is suffering from traumatic brain injury and is brought to the emergency ward of a hospital. The doctor here is using metaverse to get a completely immersive representation of the patient brain and is examining the blood clot in specific veins for a precise treatment. The doctor is standing in front of the virtual damaged brain and is able to touch, enlarge, rotate and even dissect as per requirements. This level of detailed observation will improve the treatment quality and success rate in critical patients.”

• Metaverse will penetrate into digital therapeutics and the technology will be used to create various virtual environments in order to treat mental conditions. In the present scenario, there are already some mental health apps that offer a 360 VR immersive and engaging experience. Using these apps like Helium, users can enjoy mental relaxation sessions in artificially created environments which can be mountains, water bodies, and forests.

“Now, in this case, just imagine a patient suffering from depression and the doctor advices him to remain in the present moment by doing mindfulness practices. The person takes the help of a metaverse mental health app and starts doing a two-hour morning session of meditation and nature walk. He is doing all these activities in metaverse, in a lovely natural garden surrounded by hills. The activities are helping him recover faster. This is how metaverse can change the medical scenario.”

Technological Advancements are Shaping the Healthcare Metaverse Market

The adoption of technology in the healthcare sector is rising very rapidly. The advent of Web 3.0, advancements in AR/VR, artificial intelligence, and IoT are the key factors shaping up the metaverse world. Numerous use cases will emerge in the next ten years and companies are actively exploring investment opportunities and business streams. How things will shape up in the coming years is going to be very interesting.

“Not every idea or product that is being introduced in the metaverse industry is going be successful. Staticker believes that understanding the consumer phycology, carefully evaluating the truth and success seeking stages of the product development becomes very critical. This is also because developing and introducing metaverse products is a cost intensive project.”

Investing in Healthcare Metaverse

There are going to be numerous metaverse product ideas and investing segments that will boom in the healthcare sector. The fundamental structure of the market will remain the same just like the overall metaverse market and will comprise front-end solution providers, platform providers, and hardware providers.

The Healthcare metaverse market will comprise the below-mentioned categories of market players:

• Front-end solution providers (training solutions, surgery rehearsal platforms, health & wellness platforms, anesthesia & pain management, vision disorder treatment, rehabilitation, and many more).
• Platform providers
• Hardware providers

Top 3 most potential use cases of a metaverse in healthcare:

 

1. Reducing Quality Concerns in Healthcare Data Collection: Collecting and aggregating data from disparate sources creates challenges regarding the quality of the data; this challenge is exacerbated when data integrity must be guaranteed across a diverse multi-stakeholder network.

 

2. An interconnected network of healthcare providers could utilize predictive analytics tools powered by the healthcare blockchain to make better decisions based on real-time medical data insights intelligently routed through a secure decentralized network. Prediction models could be shared for improved care coordination at the individual level as well as population-based models having a positive impact on mortality rates and recovery time reduction for patients.

 

3. Improved health outcomes by connecting millions of patients from all over the globe to one platform where they can share their data with anyone they choose. An example could be if you wanted to see if a doctor in China has a success rate in treating your illness. You could find out before traveling there to avoid costly travel expenses, time off from work, getting appointments set up, etc.

 

What Impact Will the Metaverse Have on Healthcare?

 

The metaverse has the potential to lead to game-changing healthcare breakthroughs. Learn how immersive innovations may assist patients and clinicians in improving health outcomes. From virtual wellness to mental health to complex surgical procedures, the metaverse can improve many aspects of healthcare.

Web 3.0 technologies including artificial intelligence, augmented reality, virtual reality, and the Internet of Medical Things are already being utilized to teach front-line pandemic workers and treat post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms (PTS).

Let us look at some of the ways the metaverse will be the next frontier in healthcare.

 

• Telehealth

According to McKinsey’s research, the usage of telehealth rose 38 times from the pre-pandemic baseline to 2021.

We will be able to increase traditional telemedicine services thanks to the metaverse. Healthcare practitioners will be able to digitally examine people and perhaps identify some health concerns in the metaverse.

Patients will no longer be confined to healthcare providers in their geographic area thanks to Metaverse telemedicine consultations. Patients in the United States might consult with experts in Australia and vice versa; all that is required is that both the patient and the practitioner wear headsets. This is especially useful in locations where medical experts are scarce or when people have difficulty receiving treatment.

 

• Medical Training and Education

The metaverse will open up new avenues for immersive medical education and training.

In a virtual reality educational environment, students and trainees might investigate the anatomy of the human body, and the possibilities for solving issues, developing creativity, and constructing learning spaces in the metaverse are almost unlimited.

The World Health Organization’s cutting-edge learning center, The Academy, has introduced a new feature in their training app that employs augmented reality to educate health workers on how to be safe when working with COVID-19 patients. The app explains how to properly put on and take off personal protective equipment (PPE).

During the presentation, a student may observe a figure putting on and removing PPE and then guide the figure’s motions, thereby “learning by doing” rather than merely watching a training film.

Novarad Corporation, a medical imaging software business, introduced its OpenSightTM Augmented Reality System for Education, which provides students and teachers with an immersive experience of any donor study that can be conducted with a CT scanner. Students may control holograms with vocal instructions using a Microsoft HoloLens 2 headgear to display organs, bones, and soft tissues.

Healthcare professionals will also be able to create “test dummies” for individuals using digital twins, which are virtual representations or simulations of processes, objects, or systems. They may utilize the metaverse’s digital twins to forecast how patients would react to drugs, recover from disease, or rehabilitate after surgery.

• Surgery in the Metaverse

AR, VR, and AI technology are already being used by surgeons to do less invasive surgery. These immersive technologies provide medical practitioners with a 3D image of a patient’s body, allowing them to plan and conduct surgeries more effectively.

AR and VR simulations in the metaverse are also a safe approach for surgeons-in-training to perfect their skills while dealing with a variety of technological hurdles and problems. During an operation, a surgeon can even use a head-up display to examine screen data or photographs without having to glance away from the patient on the table.

The metaverse has the potential to transform mental health care. Psychiatrists and psychotherapists might use the metaverse’s immersive experiences to tackle difficulties such as:

 

• PTS
• Anxiety disorders
• Delusions
• Psychosis
• Hallucinations
• Eating disorders

Additionally, metaverse might give access to mental health care to persons who are handicapped or have geographic challenges to receiving care.

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