If you’re already measuring daily step count or perhaps grow a virtual plant in drinking more water in a day, gamification has found its way in your life, adding a distinct charm! As we speak, gamification apps, devices, and therapies are likely to appear gradually in almost every medical niche and eventually healthcare industry as a whole.
The technology resulted in an optimistic behavior change so far among the users in rather a fun way. Take for instance a simple online doctor app having the potential of remote consultation with healthcare which is extremely convenient and helps patients in receiving quality medical care from the comforts of their home. Here’s how gamification transformed healthcare so far!
Technology is your coach to eternal change
The key to success is loyalty to the subject or commitment to time and in today’s fast-paced world, achieving both or even one factor has become really hard. Where some people are motivated by the very feeling of community and socializing, others find peace through rewards for certain achievements and competing against each other.
Looking at the data model and statistics, small to big-time successes can be achieved by making the entire process a fun-learning experience. This is possible today with advanced technology and for the medical industry; a simple online doctor app brought forward incredible results. Gamification would simply take ordinary to extraordinary with the far better outcome.
Gamification: The new buzzword
Gameplay focus and guides our attention, fuel inner strength, drives a competitive spirit and compels us to greater resilience thereby adapting to more powerful and effective skills. This is the reason many believe it as perfect for optimistic behavior change in healthcare. A game is simply more than the typical automatic collector of vital signs and sending notifications.
Gamification in healthcare is a perfect solution to many physical and cognitive issues faced by patients. Certain games are designed to stimulate a sense of belonging, raises motivation and help users move down the bumpy road of change smoothly. This is another reason many neuroscientists and technologists believed gamification should spread like epidemics in medical therapy.
Ousting the challenges
Harmonising digital tools to fuel motivation in the medical industry isn’t a piece of cake for it has to be devoid of any loopholes or digital whips. Fitbit, in 2016 announced teaming up with employers and corporations to track employees and extract that data to monitor employee health habits.
In fact, Fitbit was introduced as a “corporate fitness tracker” many years before several other competitors lined up. It introduced common challenges and competitions for employees which is entirely fun and motivating.
The Vice President of Digital Health for FitBit during an implementation revealed that a month-long challenge was implemented where employees went head-to-head with their respective departmental CEOs. Average daily step count was to beat 1,600 steps and that was indeed some record.
Designing great game is difficult
Designing great games, especially those concerned with healthcare is far more challenging for one has to oversee many different aspects such as physical and psychological benefits to all, zero-percent violence and much more. It has to be engaging, yet prevents from becoming an addiction, a mix of fun and informative which indeed pushes challenges to a new level.
A recent study examined the effects of Pokémon Go which raised enthusiasm during the first five weeks of release, however, declined in the sixth week. The pattern seemed consistent across various subgroups based on neighborhoods, income level, age and much more.
Still, there’re many good examples of services and applications that fuel motivation, rewards and reinforce commitment to healthcare. If we respect the fact that it would only work with self-motivation and voluntary participation, interactive games for healthcare can really achieve great things and pose a potential to advance a simple online doctor app to accomplish more than what its originally designed for.
Conclusion
All in all, gamification has transformed medical therapies beyond imagination and an online doctor app is one simplest example of the best.
