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Blue Background

AUGMENTED REALITY
FOR HEALTHCARE

AR is opening up exciting possibilities for improving how we care for patients, train medical professionals, and streamline healthcare systems.

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This project looks into how AR can be used in healthcare to boost communication, improve patient experiences, and enhance medical training through the use of interactive AR holograms.

Bridging Innovation and Patient Care.

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Objective

Our goal was to integrate Augmented Reality (AR) technology into healthcare settings, enhancing communication, patient care, and medical education through interactive AR holograms. We aimed to create a seamless experience that bridges the gap between complex medical information and patient understanding.
 

Challenges Addressed:

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  • To improve communication between healthcare providers and patients, ensuring clarity and reducing misunderstandings.

  • Enhancing medical training by providing risk-free, interactive simulations for healthcare professionals.

  • Streamlining access to medical records and patient history, reducing administrative burdens and improving efficiency.

User personas

To ensure the design and implementation of the Augmented Reality (AR) technology met the needs of all stakeholders in the healthcare environment, we developed detailed user personas. These personas helped us identify the specific challenges, needs, and preferences of key users interacting with the system, enabling us to create a more user-centric solution.

Storyboard

To visualize how AR could be integrated into healthcare, we developed a comprehensive storyboard illustrating the user journey which highlights key interactions between doctors, nurses, and patients.

Research & key objectives

We carried out interviews with doctors, nurses, and patients to gain a deeper understanding of their experiences and challenges within healthcare environments. These conversations provided valuable insights into communication barriers, data management difficulties, and the broader healthcare experience.

Our survey aimed to identify specific challenges in consultations, current practices for managing medical records, and areas where improvements were most needed.​

Key findings

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  • Doctors often struggled to convey complex medical information clearly to patients.

  • Patients faced language barriers and comprehension issues, particularly when receiving diagnoses.

  • Nurses experienced difficulties with collecting and managing data for new patients lacking previous medical documents.​

Features identified

  • 3D anatomical visualizations to aid understanding.

  • Interactive medical history viewing to improve accessibility.

  • Voice and video input options for flexible data entry.

  • Medication conflict alerts to enhance patient safety.

Low-Fidelity prototype

We created a model of the hologram to outline basic features and user flows.

High-Fidelity prototype

We developed a detailed prototype in figma to provide a more interactive experience, allowing users to explore features like organ highlighting and medical history access.

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The following videos explain the user flow of the high-fidelity prototype -

Here is a brief overview of the prototype's design and how the patient's information will be displayed:

Here's how the interactions unfold:

This video showcases a use-case scenario of AR in healthcare, where we demonstrate how the hologram was utilized to diagnose symptoms resulting from a conflict between two medications:

User testing & feedback

We conducted testing sessions with doctors, nurses, and patients using the high-fidelity prototypes. Tasks included navigating medical history, understanding 3D models, and interacting with the holographic interface.


Feedback highlights are as under:

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  • Participants appreciated the clarity and depth provided by the 3D models.

  • Suggestions included adding zoom functionalities and larger icons for better usability.

  • The need for proper training before implementation was emphasized to avoid errors.

Improvements & future work

We enhanced interactions and user interface based on feedback, focusing on ease of use and accessibility. We also planned the development of a more detailed 3D mockup to improve visualization and interaction. 
 

Below are some plans that we will be working on:
 

  • We will incorporate more interactions and tooltips to aid user understanding.

  • We will address privacy concerns with robust data protection measures.

  • Further exploration of AR applications in chronic disease management and mental health therapy is planned.

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