{"id":10033,"date":"2021-09-28T07:42:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T07:42:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.appstudio.ca\/blog\/?p=10033"},"modified":"2023-04-04T07:38:08","modified_gmt":"2023-04-04T07:38:08","slug":"what-ways-can-gamification-be-used-in-the-healthcare-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.appstudio.ca\/blog\/what-ways-can-gamification-be-used-in-the-healthcare-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"What Ways Can Gamification Be Used in the Healthcare Industry?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To achieve long-term success in incorporating healthy habits into our daily lives, we need to be consistent and dedicated. Most people, however, find it challenging to continue once the initial motivation has worn off. This is where gamified health apps come in! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gamification<\/a><\/strong> of health and fitness apps incentives small tasks and motivates users throughout the process in various ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some are motivated by a sense of community and socialization. In contrast, others are motivated by receiving prizes for accomplishments, competing, or looking at individual successes’ statistics and metrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 As technology advances, gamified apps, devices, and therapies will eventually emerge in every area of the healthcare industry making behavioral changes easier and more enjoyable than ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Gamification in Healthcare? <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The concept of gamification refers to the implementation of game principles and design techniques into non-game activities. Gamification in apps enables audience participation and interaction while making monotonous chores more exciting and engaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gamification combines two of the most important assets in healthcare: people and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first mainstream implementations of health gamification were wearables like the Fitbit and Apple Watch<\/a><\/strong> and apps that tracked and rewarded exercise, food, and overall wellness. The next generation of healthcare gamification apps will focus on more in-depth monitoring and managing chronic conditions like hypertension and diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Gamification<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Revolutionizing Healthcare By App Gamification <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The gamification of healthcare is so much more than just making wellness appealing. Healthcare is a serious industry wherein the results drive the approach and the incentives. When contemplating how to engage complex and high-risk patient populations or burnt-out personnel, healthcare organizations seek to tackle behaviour change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is how gamify apps transform healthcare for all the parties involved, whether patients, physicians, or insurance companies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Empowering Customers <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Digital tools that encourage healthy behaviour, from medication adherence to discharge instructions, enable users to customize and control their treatment plans. When users realize they are in control, they become more motivated. They are then more likely to stick to their goals for longer.  Furthermore, gamified apps with incentives, badges, and points give users additional encouragement to pursue the path toward their goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s look at the example of Medisafe, a healthcare app with over 5 million users that reminds patients to take their medication. The company estimates that two-thirds of hypertension, diabetes, and depression patients started taking their pills regularly after using their application. Users can customize their in-app experience by changing the colours, themes, and music, and they can win incentives for recording prescriptions and other health-related data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clinicians may begin to transform healthcare quality and outcomes by using technology and gamification of health apps. They help interact with patients beyond singular episodes of care and motivate them outside the physical boundaries of a hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Engaging Physicians and Medical Staff <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Technologies such as patient population management solutions that link directly into the electronic health records transform how healthcare organizations operationalize and track care management in the provider context. Consider chronic care management (CCM) services and the necessity to track non-face-to-face patient contacts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health and wellness gamification has the potential to increase physician and case manager involvement in technology used to track patients to keep people healthy and better forecast who is at risk. Additionally, with healthcare application development<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>patients can easily book appointments and complete other paperwork freeing medical staff from those responsibilities and allowing them to do what they do best: help people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gamification of medical education enables medical practitioners to keep growing their knowledge through a flexible and customized model. With the gamification of education apps, it is possible to recreate real clinical events and provide healthcare professionals with a more dynamic learning environment. This will provide individuals with practical aspects of patient management and allow them to see how different variables affect the condition and treat the patient more holistically.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"How<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How to Gamify Your Existing Healthcare Application<\/strong> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To facilitate the process of gamification of current healthcare apps, we have detailed a stepwise procedure below: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Identify the Primary Objective of Your Gamified Application <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Before beginning, it is of the utmost importance to establish the goals you hope to achieve. There are many gamification ideas in the market, but you have to identify a particular problem that your app will address. That could be anything from encouraging daily meditation, incentivizing adhering to a prescribed diet, or even gamify exercise and rehabilitation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Selecting the Appropriate Gaming Strategy <\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      After attaining clarity regarding the purpose of your application, the next stage involves creating a well-thought-out and meticulously crafted app development strategy. This should include all the game aspects that you wish to include in your gamified application. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      You can build your app’s gamification strategy on the two fundamental principles of mechanics and dynamics. The mechanical principle drives user activity. For example, in a gamified fitness app, if a person burns 1200 kcal, they will receive a badge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Dynamics are the game’s behaviours and patterns, which can be seen in the personalized options available for the user and their general user experience and connection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      It\u2019s important to keep a few points in mind during gamified health and fitness app development<\/strong><\/a>: <\/p>\n\n\n\n