UCHealth’s free app now gives patients access to an augmented reality experience in which they can choose a dog to play with while waiting for an appointment or while at home. Since its launch, nearly 9,000 people have clicked on the new AR feature, according to the Aurora, Colorado-based health system.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
Using virtual reality to treat distractions and fun isn’t new to UCHealth, but combining the digital and physical worlds with AR creates a new level of immersive user experience. for patients and caregivers.
Users of the UCHealth mobile app can name a dog, feed it, throw a ball, or ask the dog to follow simple commands.
“We’re excited to be one of the first healthcare providers to create AR experiences for our patients,” said Nicole Caputo, senior director of experience and innovation at UCHealth, indicated in the notice.
“The first experience is simply to put a smile on people’s faces, as interacting with animals has been shown to lower blood pressure and reduce stress,” she says.
UCHealth says it will introduce more experiences in the coming months. By keeping the AR functionality built into the original UCHealth app, patients and caregivers can access messaging and other features without having to switch to another app.
The healthcare provider says it hopes to create more experiences that not only improve mood and reduce anxiety, but also help users learn about medical conditions through interactions. based on AR with other UCHealth patients.
UCHealth partnered with August Allen, a marketing agency based in Denver, to lead the creative strategy for AR experiences.
TREND TO BIGGER
In August, Caputo said Healthcare IT News that UCHealth plans to continue building AR experiences, in both iOS and Android, to educate patients and improve their overall connectivity to their health.
“Technology has come a long way in the past few years,” she said.
According to Risa Weisberg, clinical director of mental health technology provider BehaVR, virtual reality and AR experiences built on a foundation of empiric-assisted therapies can be a companion. Ideal for some direct mental health therapies.
“These experiences, because they’re so completely immersive and treated as if they’re actually happening to you, hold the promise of showing clinical efficacy that may be comparable to some direct therapy, but with the flexibility to be used without the presence of a clinician,” explains Weisberg.
Caputo said previous use of AR was mobile web-based and driven by print ads or QR codes.
However, “to actually be able to see something in your environment, to bring things to life in your environment, we’re really excited,” she said.
ON PROFILE
Justin Hayes, creative director at August Allen said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with UCHealth to create augmented reality experiences that focus on health and wellness, and look forward to evolving those experiences. future experience for patients”.
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS.
