Gamification of healthcare technology- How will it help patients and doctors?

While it may sound like a scene from a sci-fi movie, the reality is that many health-related apps have been assuming a gaming format to keep users engaged and cultivate healthy habits in them. It can also help in inducing positivity in people’s minds. Even the reputed medical organizations take it seriously and are prepared to test the potential of gamified apps for understanding their potential to treat specific diseases. Based on the same, a reputed medical organization allowed a gaming app to be marketed as a prescribed medicine- as we will learn in one of the following paragraphs. So, in this blog we will present some of how gamification can help people achieve their health goals and also treat their condition:

What is gamification and how it helps healthcare industry?

In Gamification the gaming aspects are adopted for making any application engaging and more interesting for the users with the help of features like progression journey, challenges, points allocation, etc. As a result, the user is ready to invest more attention and time in the application.

Along with other apps, gamification has also been playing a vital role in enhancing the appeal of health apps. The developers utilize it to encourage users to tend to their health needs and adopt a healthy lifestyle. A diabetes management app called mySugr has successfully adopted gamification to inspire more people to manage their diabetes with attention. In this game, the diabetes is presented as a Tamagotchi monster, and players are challenged with the task of taming it. It helps patients manage their ideal glucose levels by earning points, getting customized insights, and accomplishing challenges.

Roche, a reputed brand that produced Accucheck Guide glucose meter, acquired this gamified app and incorporated with their meter to encourage patients to manage their diabetes.

It educates and motivates people to take care of their health needs

Likewise the smart wearables also use various game-like features including motivational challenges and social sharing and engagement to induce a healthy feeling of competition among the users that inspires them to achieve ideal health goals. It also helps people stick to their resolutions. It is also believed that such features will help growing children learn better about health management skills.

Gamification can proactively help new medical students and researchers

Gamification can also help in imparting better knowledge to new medical students and researchers. In this concept, the tough medical concepts are presented in interesting point-based gaming challenges. For instance, a multiplayer digital game Foldit presents the challenge of properly folding protein structures to solve puzzles. It helps in enhancing the biochemistry knowledge of people who are new to this subject.

Games as prescribed medicines

Wisely designed video games under the supervision of medical experts can also be used as a part of the prescription to treat specific diseases. For instance, the Endeavour is a game that has officially been marketed as a prescription medicine by doctors in the US.

If you think that it could just be because of a marketing gimmick or brand influence then you have second thoughts coming. Endeavour had to undergo multiple clinical trials for more than half a decade- 7 years to be more precise, before getting the green flag. It was tested on more than 600 children and only after being found effective enough, the game was recognized to have proven potential to enhance attention in ADHD impacted children. Additionally, it also promises minimal, if any, side effects.

This game has started a new way to provide an efficient drug-free treatment alternative to the ADHD paediatric patients. It can go a long way in minimizing or eliminating the use of ADHD drugs- some of which may have long term adverse impacts or cause unhealthy dependency on medicines.

Building a revolutionary treatment model

When adopted on a wider scale this approach of replacing chemicals with gamification technology to treat diseases can bring a new revolution in the medical industry. However, one thing to consider here is that just like medicines, there should be certain specific guidelines and ideal quantity for “consuming” these gamified medicines to avoid misuse or dependency.

To be more precise let us look at the data from the experts. American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that video game interventions improved 69% of psychological therapy outcomes, 59% of physical therapy outcomes, and 46% of clinician skills outcomes.

So, are we ready to gamify the healthcare deliver?

Video games have been blamed for different reasons right from affecting eyesight to creating distractions and promoting aggressive behaviors. It is then becoming implausible to believe that video games can act as a drug-free alternative to medicines for relieving stress. Yes, it is true that for specific cases, these video games may have side effects. However, one of the comprehensive and very long term studies on the addiction of video games found that 90% of players don’t suffer any long term negative consequences due to video games. Moreover, the prescribed gaming apps would have to pass through rigorous tests before being officially marketed as a prescription medicine- which means that these games are even much safer for long-term use.

Conclusion

Gamification has been long been used by top businesses to attract and engage digital audiences. Of late the medical fraternity has also started realizing its effect in treating some diseases. It ha resulted in carefully developed gaming apps that can be used as one of the zero drugs alternatives to traditional medicines. In this blog, we presented some of the best ways in which gamification can help people regain their health.