Mobile augmented reality is a powerful tool for engaging patients. Whether you are using it for patient education, distraction therapy, or mobility, AR creates a positive patient experience.
Augmented reality (AR) use has increased steadily over the last 5 years and in 2022 over 1 billion people used mobile AR in one way or another. AR allows digital experiences to be added to the real world through the screen of a mobile device. AR is becoming a bigger part of our everyday lives, from games to shopping. A major benefit of AR in the healthcare setting is that it is immersive, but not too immersive. This means that pediatric patients can stay engaged with the real world, their providers, and their families while using AR. We’ve been putting AR in hospitals for a while now, and here are 6 benefits of engaging patients with AR that we consistently see:
Safety - AR allows patients to stay in touch with the real world. This means staff is not needed for monitoring patients while using AR. A unique use case for AR is mobility. Because it engages patients in the real world, we use AR games to motivate children to walk after surgery to reduce risk of complications and keep patients on track for discharge. We are currently studying how ARISE, our AR mobility game, impacts recovery factors such as pain, length of stay, and quality of life for post-surgical cancer patients.
Human Interaction - AR does not have to be experienced alone; it enables shared experiences for patients, their providers, and their families. These shared experiences can build rapport between staff and child, particularly in stressful situations. Child life staff have used our story cards with patients before surgery to calm and distract, and continue the narrative after surgery in the PACU to create a consistent experience for the child.
Learning - AR has the power to depict 3D with incredible realism or can simply add media to the real world. The range of AR makes it powerful for patient education and helps manage expectations around a hospital stay or procedure. We leverage this with MRI Sim, designed to engage patients in a 2 minute interactive simulation that will empower and encourage children to try scans without sedation.
Accessibility - Mobile is ubiquitous and regardless of socio-economic status, most families have a smart device. This means that AR delivered through a smartphone or tablet can be broadly available in a way that most people are comfortable with. Knowing most families have a mobile device, we started putting Gamepack (AR distraction therapy games) into waiting rooms to address patient anxiety prior to an appointment or procedure.
Perception-changing - When you infuse fun into even the most unpleasant experiences, then you empower patients to have a different perspective on their trip to the hospital. Patient experience matters, and a positive perception can make all the difference in patient satisfaction scores. At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital, we added AR to a 60 foot mural in a main hallway. Not only did the AR enhance the experience with the mural, but it created a digital destination in the hospital that encouraged ambulation and created moments of magic for patients, their siblings and their parents.
Easy and low maintenance - Deployment of AR is quick and simple and doesn’t add to staff workload. AR doesn’t even have to run on your hospital devices. A mid-west children’s hospital encourages families to download the ARISE app (fee to families) to allow patients to be self-directed in their recovery. Hundreds of children every month play the mobility games without burden to nurses or child life.
Whether you have experience with AR or not, it is likely your digital-native pediatric patients have experienced it and love it. Adding AR as a tool to key experiences around patient education, distraction therapy, and patient mobility will improve your patient’s experience and increase patient loyalty in the next generation of patients.
Read more about our research efforts to better understand the impact AR has on the pediatric hospital experience on our research page.
