For the almost last 2 years, the world has changed and the way we live, act and manage our lives changed with it.
We faced a pandemic, we changed the way we work, the way we act with other people and we got closer to the digital world. We got closer to technology and of course to Gamification.
We assisted a boom on creative communication from Brands to their customers. We watched gamification everywhere, at the supermarket’s apps, on social media, pharmacies, well almost all the retail and also restaurants tried to use gamification to attract their customers.
And what about The Health Industry? How can Gamification help this industry?
Gamification in healthcare is increasing with attempts to apply gaming principles to improve patient clinical outcomes. This trend establishes the need for a “digital practitioner” who channels these games, monitors progress, and selects the most appropriate ones for a given patient.
Understanding how gamification applies to healthcare is essential. Gaming principles can be selectively applied to how care is coordinated and delivered to patients, potentially leading to better outcomes.
We already know that Gamification provides instant access to performance feedback, can build employee engagement, can boost productivity and also increase learning retention. But how is this applicable to the Healthcare Industry?
Gamification in Healthcare
Gameplay focuses and controls our attention, taps into our innate strengths, thrills us utterly and compels us to greater resilience in the attainment of more powerful and effective skills. That’s why many believe it is perfect for behaviour change in healthcare. A game is more than the automatic collector of vital signs and notifications. Gamified services engage us, keep us motivated and helps us down the rough road of change. It’s the combination of a great buddy and a considerate parent. That’s why we believe gamified solutions will spread like epidemics in healthcare as well.
But it is really difficult to find the right balance for digital tools to act as sources of motivation not turning into boring constraints.
One great example of how gamification can impact the healthcare industry is Medication and chronic condition management.
Mango Health is a perfect example of this.
They developed a smartphone application designed to motivate patients to take their medications on time. Users set the times when medications should be taken, and the app reminds them. It also provides information about the medications and warns about drug interactions and side effects. By taking the medications properly, users earn points towards gift cards or charitable donations in raffles held weekly. How cool right?
Gamification for kids
It is especially important to apply gamification for medical solutions aimed at children as they usually do not understand the importance of therapies or drugs for their health, in the long run, they just consider the short-term miseries. They do not want to swallow bitter pills or eat vegetables, do not want to go to therapy or stay in the hospital. Gamification can help forget kids that they are undergoing therapy or medical treatment. If they believe they are swallowing the secret of a long-gone civilization with the pill and only their enteric bacteria could decipher that code, they would gladly take any drug.
So, as you see Gamification is a World of possibilities. We can actually use gamification to improve people’s lives.
