Individuals are now equipped with more knowledge and resources than ever before when it comes to making decisions about healthcare systems or providers. Not only can individuals extensively research healthcare systems, but they can also defer to current and past patients’ experiences. In fact, 77% of patients use online reviews as their first step in finding a new healthcare provider (Healthwise.org).
So how can you recruit and retain patients, provide a satisfactory experience, and keep up with the ever-changing patient expectations? One way is through incorporating augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) into your health system’s mobile application.
It’s no secret that AR/AI are enabling businesses to become more innovative, but healthcare systems are also implementing AR/AI technology in creative ways, such as adding virtual assistants, providing health tips and tutorials, games, guided meditations, and more. This engages the patient, while keeping them compliant, educated, and entertained.
Here are five reasons why you should be adopting AR/AI technology into your external systems:
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- Patient Compliance
AR/AI can provide step-by-step instructions, 3D demonstrational videos, and personalized reminders for patients, making it easier to follow pre-op requirements, rehab exercises, or prescription directions, improving comprehension, reducing errors, and increasing compliance.
- Patient Compliance
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- Education
By offering interactive learning experiences, AR/AI fosters education in a patient’s experience, allowing individuals to become active participants in their own journey. Examples include visualizing procedures, promoting treatment compliance, raising disease awareness, facilitating virtual tours, providing language and accessibility support, and more
- Education
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- Entertainment
AR/AI can gamify healthcare experiences by incorporating elements of competition, rewards, and achievement tracking on mobile applications. For example, patients can earn points, badges, or virtual rewards by completing health-related tasks. This can increase motivation and engagement which will benefit both the patient’s health and the healthcare system’s success.
- Entertainment
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- Ease of Accessibility & Approachability
AR/AI applications can provide an on-demand assistant, giving guidance to patients, offering instant answers to questions, as well as providing access to relevant information, instructions, or resources as needed.
- Ease of Accessibility & Approachability
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- Loyalty
AR/AI provides an interactive and immersive experience, allowing patients to stay entertained during their healthcare journey, ultimately leading to increased satisfaction, loyalty, and the decision to use other services within the network.
- Loyalty
Overall, utilizing AR/AI in healthcare is enhancing the patient experience by providing personalized care, improving communication and education, and offering efficiency and convenience. This not only empowers patients to take their health seriously but demonstrates an organization’s innovation, technology advancement, and forward thinking. If utilized to its fullest, AR/AI can significantly contribute to building and maintaining the patient experience and satisfaction, leading to more positive reviews, loyalty, and overall success for healthcare organizations.