Written by Joe Stangarone
Augmented reality is set to change the ways people go about their daily lives. Greater convenience, greater safety, and easier access to more pertinent information are all things we can expect to experience. No exception to this is the field of health care - both in the personal and professional realms. As the technology of augmented reality becomes more and more sophisticated, there will be seemingly endless ways in which it will benefit both an individual's healthcare and the industry as a whole.
There are a number of ways augmented reality will benefit the health and well-being of an individual. Not least of which is making information about dietary choices more accessible. One other field of developing technology that will play a key role is the internet of things. Imagine yourself in a grocery store where every item is broadcasting information about itself to the nearby area. As you walk down the isle with your augmented reality-enabled glasses, information about each product appears next to it as a pop-up. Surely there wold be almost too much information to keep track of in one isle, but with filtering you could quickly find the information you need. You could say, for example, "Display only cheese ravioli." Once only the chosen items where being displayed, you could narrow it down further by saying something like "Display only the item with the lowest sodium." You could also pre set your device to only highlight items that fit a diet plan, or even have it sync automatically with your health records to help you avoid foods that may cause you trouble.
Augmented reality will also bring significant benefits to the health care industry as well. One area in particular would be the administration process. Wearing a pair of augmented reality enabled glasses, a hospital administrator could see a patient's information immediately and right in their line of sight, eliminating the need to ask for this information and filling out forms. This would greatly reduce the overhead associated with this process and lead to more efficient and accurate patient handling. This could also be cause for a more effective initial examination by a nurse or other health care practitioner. Wearing such a pair of glasses, the entire examination could be recorded - weather it be in the hospital or during a home visit. Also, a doctor could watch the live video, ask questions or request more information - essentially allowing him or her to be two places at once.
Within a hospital, and in particular areas where the staff is interacting directly with patients, augmented reality will bring significant improvements in the ever-important concern of safety. Tablets and desktop computers are already commonplace in hospitals, but they pose a danger in that the need hands to operate them. Great efforts are dispensed at hospitals to keep the spread of germs at bay, and cross contamination between staff and patients alike can be a real problem. With the use of desktops, hand-help devices and other medical devices, the very equipment the staff is using is a hot spot for such dangers. With the adoption of augmented reality enabled devices, such concerns will be greatly mitigated. For one, there can be a drastic reduction in communal usage of computer equipment because each member of the staff will be able to enter and retrieve information they need through their own device. No less importantly, surgeons will have all the information they need right in front of them, eliminating the need for them to have to go through the lengthy process of scrubbing out and back in again in order to use a tablet or desktop to access additional information.
Health is important to everyone. Most individuals and the health care industry alike are always looking for ways to affect it more positively. Augmented reality and the devices that will bring it to life will almost certainly be a game-changer in this arena. And the good news is that the more sophisticated and capable the technology becomes, the more significant the improvements will be.
Augmented reality is set to change the ways people go about their daily lives. Greater convenience, greater safety, and easier access to more pertinent information are all things we can expect to experience. No exception to this is the field of health care - both in the personal and professional realms. As the technology of augmented reality becomes more and more sophisticated, there will be seemingly endless ways in which it will benefit both an individual's healthcare and the industry as a whole.
There are a number of ways augmented reality will benefit the health and well-being of an individual. Not least of which is making information about dietary choices more accessible. One other field of developing technology that will play a key role is the internet of things. Imagine yourself in a grocery store where every item is broadcasting information about itself to the nearby area. As you walk down the isle with your augmented reality-enabled glasses, information about each product appears next to it as a pop-up. Surely there wold be almost too much information to keep track of in one isle, but with filtering you could quickly find the information you need. You could say, for example, "Display only cheese ravioli." Once only the chosen items where being displayed, you could narrow it down further by saying something like "Display only the item with the lowest sodium." You could also pre set your device to only highlight items that fit a diet plan, or even have it sync automatically with your health records to help you avoid foods that may cause you trouble.
Augmented reality will also bring significant benefits to the health care industry as well. One area in particular would be the administration process. Wearing a pair of augmented reality enabled glasses, a hospital administrator could see a patient's information immediately and right in their line of sight, eliminating the need to ask for this information and filling out forms. This would greatly reduce the overhead associated with this process and lead to more efficient and accurate patient handling. This could also be cause for a more effective initial examination by a nurse or other health care practitioner. Wearing such a pair of glasses, the entire examination could be recorded - weather it be in the hospital or during a home visit. Also, a doctor could watch the live video, ask questions or request more information - essentially allowing him or her to be two places at once.
Within a hospital, and in particular areas where the staff is interacting directly with patients, augmented reality will bring significant improvements in the ever-important concern of safety. Tablets and desktop computers are already commonplace in hospitals, but they pose a danger in that the need hands to operate them. Great efforts are dispensed at hospitals to keep the spread of germs at bay, and cross contamination between staff and patients alike can be a real problem. With the use of desktops, hand-help devices and other medical devices, the very equipment the staff is using is a hot spot for such dangers. With the adoption of augmented reality enabled devices, such concerns will be greatly mitigated. For one, there can be a drastic reduction in communal usage of computer equipment because each member of the staff will be able to enter and retrieve information they need through their own device. No less importantly, surgeons will have all the information they need right in front of them, eliminating the need for them to have to go through the lengthy process of scrubbing out and back in again in order to use a tablet or desktop to access additional information.
Health is important to everyone. Most individuals and the health care industry alike are always looking for ways to affect it more positively. Augmented reality and the devices that will bring it to life will almost certainly be a game-changer in this arena. And the good news is that the more sophisticated and capable the technology becomes, the more significant the improvements will be.
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