Augmented Reality — The Future of Healthcare

Vinu Natarajan
3 min readJan 11, 2022
V Natarajan

Augmented reality (AR) is almost commonplace in healthcare. Facilities across the globe are investing heavily to incorporate the systems and processes in their activities. In healthcare, AR works by combining natural and virtual worlds, real-time interaction with virtual and real-world objects, as well as realistic 3D registration, and the core function is to serve as a bridge by integrating immersive sensations, which are seen as natural components of an environment, into a person’s view of the physical world, rather than simply displaying facts.

Technology has had a significant impact on education, and its possibilities have revolutionized learning settings and made them more attractive. Today’s educators recognize that learning is more than simply reading and writing; it must also incorporate creative components for the facility to be a comprehensive learning environment.

When it comes to technology-assisted learning settings, healthcare education is no exception. A life-size manikin of a mother and fetus with moveable joints and a growing uterus makes up the simulator system. The 3D models may be elevated and seen in 360 degrees by the training participants.

Modern hospitals are complicated environments that can be challenging to navigate for both patients and new personnel. Designing navigation and wayfinding tools that assist anyone in directing themselves around the hospital is one valuable AR function. These tools are beneficial to newcomers and ease the load on support workers when made available through a phone or computer apps.

Doctors and even patients understand the need for precision when it comes to surgery. AR healthcare applications can help save lives and treat patients effortlessly. This applies with equal intensity when planning an organ transplant or just drawing blood. Many patients dislike getting injected or having blood drawn; the experience is made much worse when finding a complex vein, and the patient needs to be poked and prodded multiple times.

Vein visualization is a practical and typical example of AR being used in Healthcare. Today, surgeons employ a variety of procedures to see the region on which they will operate, one of which is AccuVein. The portable gadget sees through your skin and into your veins using laser-based technology.

Intravenous therapies are used for a wide range of medical conditions, yet even when carried out by medical specialists, 7 to 21 percent of first efforts to discover a vein fail. Inserting an IV requires training and experience, but Augmented Reality, which can show three-dimensional models of the patient’s anatomy into the surgeon’s field of view, is anticipated to increase accuracy and patient outcomes.

According to industry estimates, the worldwide AR market will expand at a significant 23 percent compound annual rate from 2017 to 2023 in healthcare. The medical and healthcare industries will be among the first to embrace augmented reality massively.

Many medical facilities today are not only employing the use of augmented reality in their practices but also teaching it at colleges and universities in a bid to first equip the incoming personnel with enough knowledge on the trends the field of AR holds, and secondly, to create opportunities for more innovations and fast responses to medical challenges many people face today. AR might influence life sciences organizations by launching new products, mainly as companies deliver increasingly sophisticated medicines and combo medical devices to patients.

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Vinu Natarajan

Based in New York, Vinu Natarajan is a Project Manager, business leader, and EDM Producer. For more, be sure to check out vinunatarajan.net.