Improving Patient Engagement Through Gamification

By Indrakshi Mukherjee 

Gamification is the planned use of game-like elements (such as virtual reality games, indoor games, interactive quizzes, progress tracking and rewarding with scores, badges and motivation feedback) to motivate individuals to engage in non-game activities. When considering the healthcare environment (for treatment, medication tracking and mental or physical wellbeing), including gamification can boost patient’s confidence, reduce stress associated with treatment and make the recovery experience more positive. This article reviews the implementation and benefits of gamification in healthcare applications, facilities and devices.   

Successful gamification elements in healthcare 

1) Virtual reality games. Virtual reality game-based therapy is a procedure that utilizes immersive VR technology and gaming elements to treat mental and physical ailments. This therapy is used to detect a person’s reaction to an artificial scenario by analyzing their emotional response and physical condition closely. This helps mental health professionals to better communicate with different patients and prepare appropriate treatment plans. The treatment includes VR game devices, headsets and sensors. These analyze patients’ emotional states within artificially organized environments by monitoring their reactions and movements. Patients and their caregivers use this analysis to monitor progress, consider physical or mental pain management, and strengthen their communication.  
 
For example, XR Health is an application with virtual reality game-based therapy to practice emotional vulnerability control in artificial environment. PhysioVR is another virtual reality game-based therapy platform to aid in physical rehabilitation and healing via physiotherapy or exercises.  

2) Indoor games: Indoor games are game-based activities conducted within an enclosed environment to help participants such as patients with reduced physical or mental strength by engaging them in fun activities or trainings which aim to improve their physical abilities (e.g., speed, strength, balance) and mental abilities (e.g., memory, focus). These games can boost compliance and improve cooperation between patients and healthcare professionals by providing a fun and productive treatment setting. They also help doctors evaluate patient’s progress and arrange accurate rehabilitation or treatment plans accordingly. 
 
For example, Puzzles and board games are indoor games used in pediatric clinics for kids and elderly treatment care facilities to reduce fear of painful treatment processes and build a positive experience.  
 
3) Interactive quizzes: Interactive quizzes (e.g., multiple-choice quizzes, video or audio quizzes, true or false question-answer session, word matching and sorting, direct question-answer sessions) can be used to test patient’s understanding of their health condition, treatment process and best practices. Doctors can analyze the outcome and prevent gaps in their patients’ knowledge from introducing hazards. Such interactive quizzes provide opportunities for patients to test their knowledge on their treatment, receive a score, and find out what they got wrong or right. This helps them to consolidate their understanding and see their recovery in a positive light.  

For example, Geeky Medics is platform with interactive quizzes to enhance knowledge about treatment and healthcare.  

4) Progress tracking and rewarding: Progress tracking includes observing and analyzing participant’s advancement through their game results and responses. Rewarding involves acknowledging the participant’s progress and accomplishments by giving them scores, incentives, rankings and motivational feedback. Medical professionals use electronic healthcare platforms to monitor their patients’ progress and activate rewards. Progress tracking gives patients a sense of success by allowing them to view their progress and accomplishments. Rewards can include badges, points, and positive feedback. Doctors may also benefit from this by getting a wider insight into the patient’s thought process (by analyzing the patient’s feedback, behavior, responses, scores and engagement metrics) resulting in improved communication with patients.

For example, medical professionals use Special recognitions to encourage patients to provide feedback on their treatment facility and associated healthcare professionals.  

Benefits of gamification for patients

Game elements in healthcare can transform patient care and treatment from a stressful process to a positive experience. Gamification in healthcare can not only build fun and encouraging treatment processes for patients; it can also shape a better learning curve for healthcare professionals as they observe patient’s reactions and growth. This can be used to foster continuously improving patient-oriented treatment processes.  By introducing virtual reality, indoor games, rewards, and quizzes, the patient experience can improve considerably, along with outcomes and treatment. Use of such gaming elements such as virtual reality game-based therapy attracts patients with captivating virtual environments with intuitive and interactive user experiences. Similarly, other games or quizzes reduce the anxiety associated with treatments. This article is a supportive resource discussing how gamification can drive positive and improved patient care which also allows healthcare professionals to learn more about their patients and build effective treatment processes. 

Contact our team to learn more about implementing gamification elements within your medical device or pharmaceutical product.  

Indrakshi Mukherjee is a User Experience Designer at Emergo by UL.