Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed several limitations of existing healthcare systems. Thus, there is a surge in healthcare innovation and new business models using computer-mediated virtual environments to provide an alternative healthcare system. Today, digital transformation is not limited to vir...

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Main Authors: Gaurang Bansal, Karthik Rajgopal, Vinay Chamola, Zehui Xiong, Dusit Niyato
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2022-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9940237/
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author Gaurang Bansal
Karthik Rajgopal
Vinay Chamola
Zehui Xiong
Dusit Niyato
author_facet Gaurang Bansal
Karthik Rajgopal
Vinay Chamola
Zehui Xiong
Dusit Niyato
author_sort Gaurang Bansal
collection DOAJ
description The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed several limitations of existing healthcare systems. Thus, there is a surge in healthcare innovation and new business models using computer-mediated virtual environments to provide an alternative healthcare system. Today, digital transformation is not limited to virtual communication alone but encompasses digitalizing the network of social connections in the healthcare industry using metaverse technology. The metaverse is a universal and immersive virtual world facilitated by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This paper presents the first effort to offer a comprehensive survey that examines the latest metaverse developments in the healthcare industry, which covers seven domains: telemedicine, clinical care, education, mental health, physical fitness, veterinary, and pharmaceuticals. We review metaverse applications and deeply discuss technical issues and available solutions in each domain that can help develop a self-sustaining, persistent, and future-proof solution for medical healthcare systems. Finally, we highlight the challenges that must be tackled before fully embracing the metaverse for the healthcare industry.
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spelling doaj.art-5e79b144f78342a1abbf6c642c655ab82022-12-22T04:38:57ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362022-01-011011991411994610.1109/ACCESS.2022.32198459940237Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in HealthcareGaurang Bansal0Karthik Rajgopal1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7250-5743Vinay Chamola2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6730-3060Zehui Xiong3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4440-941XDusit Niyato4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7442-7416Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Queenstown, SingaporeDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Pilani, Rajasthan, IndiaDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani, Pilani, Rajasthan, IndiaInformation Systems Technology and Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Tampines, SingaporeSchool of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Jurong West, SingaporeThe COVID-19 pandemic has revealed several limitations of existing healthcare systems. Thus, there is a surge in healthcare innovation and new business models using computer-mediated virtual environments to provide an alternative healthcare system. Today, digital transformation is not limited to virtual communication alone but encompasses digitalizing the network of social connections in the healthcare industry using metaverse technology. The metaverse is a universal and immersive virtual world facilitated by virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). This paper presents the first effort to offer a comprehensive survey that examines the latest metaverse developments in the healthcare industry, which covers seven domains: telemedicine, clinical care, education, mental health, physical fitness, veterinary, and pharmaceuticals. We review metaverse applications and deeply discuss technical issues and available solutions in each domain that can help develop a self-sustaining, persistent, and future-proof solution for medical healthcare systems. Finally, we highlight the challenges that must be tackled before fully embracing the metaverse for the healthcare industry.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9940237/MetaversehealthcareIoTAImachine learningblockchain
spellingShingle Gaurang Bansal
Karthik Rajgopal
Vinay Chamola
Zehui Xiong
Dusit Niyato
Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
IEEE Access
Metaverse
healthcare
IoT
AI
machine learning
blockchain
title Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
title_full Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
title_fullStr Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
title_full_unstemmed Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
title_short Healthcare in Metaverse: A Survey on Current Metaverse Applications in Healthcare
title_sort healthcare in metaverse a survey on current metaverse applications in healthcare
topic Metaverse
healthcare
IoT
AI
machine learning
blockchain
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9940237/
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AT zehuixiong healthcareinmetaverseasurveyoncurrentmetaverseapplicationsinhealthcare
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