1
Introduction
The metaverse is an interconnected virtual 3D environment where people across the
world can come together to share social experiences.
1
This environment can leverage immersive technologies such as augmented reality (AR),
virtual reality (VR), and artificial intelligence (AI) to offer rich life-like experiences
to people all over the world. Blending these technologies can enable seamless social
interactions like office meetings, music concerns, e-sports, and more. Particularly,
the metaverse and extended reality technologies like AR, VR, and AI have a lot to
offer to the healthcare industry by enhancing patient-centric care and medical education.
The metaverse is not a new concept; In the early 2000s, a virtual 3D game called Second
Life™ began to explore the concept of immersive virtual 3D experiences.
2
Realizing its potential to connect with different generations and promote public health
initiatives, several notable institutions explored how we could leverage 3D environments
to improve healthcare literacy. Faculty at Ohio University developed a nutrition game
where people could learn about the impact that fast food has on health.
3
In another virtual world, Whyville, a research team released a simulated respiratory
virus into the community. As that simulated pandemic was unleashed into the virtual
world, the team began promoting public health lessons to the community in the form
of frequent washing hands, wearing protective face masks around others, and vaccines
which ultimately eradicated the simulated virus.
4
In the past two decades, there have been incredible advancements in computing and
refinement in extended reality technologies that could enable a new generation of
medical experiences that were previously unimaginable. Not only does the metaverse
increase accessibility, but it could also promote collaboration, enhance medical literacy,
improve medical education, and promote diversity.
Research related to the applications of the metaverse to health have been sparse,
with a PubMed search in July 2022 revealing 51 articles with the keyword ‘metaverse’
and 10 that referenced medicine. In this paper, we discuss how the fusion of metaverse
with extended reality (AR, VR, and AI) can improve healthcare.
2
Artificial intelligence and the metaverse
In the last few years, it has become increasingly clear that AI has a prominent role
to play in medicine.
5
For example, it has been proposed that in the future physicians may be able to perform
in-home diabetic retinopathy (DR..) screening using AI powered devices.
6
Such a device would promote health equity by informing patients in rural or access
limited settings whether they are exhibiting signs of DR.. and how urgently they need
an in-person ophthalmologic evaluation. However, one clear limitation is the performance
of AI at the bedside in terms of empathy, high-level conversation, and body language.
5
,
7
Such limitations may lead to patient distrust and a reluctance to adopt AI-based technologies
in direct patient care. By replacing AI-powered chatbots with AI-powered digital avatars
in a VR setting, AI may seem less mechanized and unemotional to patients. This in
turn may increase patient trust and therefore more widespread acceptance.
Along these lines, AI-based technology in the metaverse can be very useful to patients
with various psychiatric conditions. For example, patients with Borderline Personality
Disorder (BPD) are a greatly increased of committing suicide.
8
Such people commit suicide because they feel hopeless, anxious, and impulsive.
8
An AI-based chatbot that serves as a virtual assistant or virtual friend could provide
a trusted “someone” they can be with all the time to help reduce these sometimes-intense
feelings.
8
These virtual assistants can be programmed to provide responses derived from dialectical
behavioral therapy (DBT). In fact, some people with BPD who had previously attempted
suicide stated they were triggered by confusing thoughts but felt too ashamed to ask
someone for help, so they proceeded to try to kill themselves.
8
Others said they felt increasingly empty and had no one they could confide in.
8
A virtual assistant could provide these patients with an outlet to confide in at moment's
notice at all hours of the day.
8
However, patients often feel relief with the empathy shown by a fellow human even
in things like body language cues and such non-verbal communication is not easily
replicated by AI. If we move such applications to the metaverse with the presence
of virtual characters and avatars, such limitations could be theoretically overcome.
3
Metaverse and medical education
Extended reality technology demonstrates the potential to profoundly impact the future
of medical education. The growing portfolio of use cases for this technology can be
applied throughout each stage of the medical training process. Exploration and discussion
of these applications is valuable in ensuring the growth and comprehensive capability
of our future medical education system.
Applications of extended reality technology could be considered in as early as the
first year of medical education, where preclinical coursework focuses on foundational
topics such as anatomy, radiology, and more. There is evidence of universities implementing
AR and VR technology as supplemental learning tools for medical anatomy, with promising
findings.
9
,
10
The use of these tools has also been increasingly examined for the purpose of radiology
education.
11
,
12
One review investigating the use of virtual reality for radiology and anatomy teaching
found that VR was effective for increasing anatomy knowledge after assessing the academic
performance of participants.
12
With the development of these many programs still being in their relative infancy,
there is exciting potential for the integration of extended reality technology to
supplement the traditional preclinical medical curricula.
The continued growth of metaverse-compatible technologies has also shown the potential
to revolutionize our approach to clinical skills training. The simulation of virtual
environments could provide students with unique opportunities to practice history
and physical skills, complex clinical cases, and important ethical issues while remaining
in a safe, low-stakes environment.
13
,
14
One 2018 study examining the feasibility of using virtual reality to teach empathy
found a positive increase in students’ empathy for multiple age-related degenerative
diseases after employing the use of virtual immersion training.
14
The use of VR has also been heavily examined in the field of nursing for its utility
in successfully teaching clinical skills competency.15, 16, 17 These studies propose
a remarkable potential for medical education supplementation that should be investigated
further to develop a more comprehensive understanding of its future implications.
While extended reality technology has demonstrated significant potential for both
preclinical and clinical education, its greatest impact may be in revolutionizing
surgical training. Many different surgical specialties have begun exploring this concept,
unearthing favorable utility for a myriad of cutting-edge use cases.18, 19, 20 With
the use of extended reality technology, learners can gain hands-on surgical experience
in a zero-stakes environment. With the elimination of patient risk, virtually-immersive
surgical training can even be accessible by first year medical students. Early adoption
of extended reality tools for surgical training may greatly strengthen the foundational
surgical knowledge of students before even applying to residency programs, which would
strengthen applicant pools and revolutionize the paradigm of traditional medical education.
Additional surgical applications pioneered by this technology include the potential
for remote observation and assistance during surgery.
21
With at least one person in an operating room, multiple others are able to digitally
immerse themselves from a completely remote location.
21
This supports valuable future utilities such as the ability of students to engage
in remote, yet immersive, shadowing experiences and for attending surgeons to remotely
provide instruction and assistance to younger members who may be performing unfamiliar
or especially complex procedures.
The metaverse ecosystem and the collaborative environment it generates may play a
unique role in supporting the progression of health equity initiatives by strengthening
the diversity of medical specialties. Many medical specialties have historically demonstrated
low levels of diversity, and although counteractive efforts have strengthened in recent
years, certain specialties continue to linger behind.22, 23, 24 However, extended
reality and the metaverse collaborative ecosystem can help improve access to medical
education and valuable specialty-related exposure from anywhere in the world, including
low-income areas.
25
Educational opportunities accessible through this emerging technology can help future
aspiring doctors gain early exposure to various specialties and meet new mentors from
anywhere in the world.
25
With these potential impacts in mind, early exposure and training programs surrounding
this technology should continue to be explored.
4
Integrative medicine
Integrative medicine combines a variety of therapies and lifestyle changes to treat
one's mind in addition to their body.
26
Studies continue to reinforce the value of integrative medicine in quality of life
and morbidity outcomes.
27
The metaverse and extended technologies can offer new approaches to integrative medicine
which include guided meditation, nutritional advice, yoga sessions and other mind-body
therapies.
26
Furthermore, there is emerging evidence that VR and AR can offer anxiety relieving
therapies to individuals suffering from PTSD/anxiety.
28
Such technologies can be further amplified by the metaverse with social experiences
like virtual yoga and virtual meditations. One example of virtual mindfulness exists
within Roblox, a metaverse platform, where users can jump into a relaxing virtual
world to learn a variety of yoga techniques and guided meditations.
29
This experience created by Alo Yoga has garnered over 55 million visits internationally
and highlights the market for virtual integrative medicine therapies. For some people,
virtual mindfulness may be their first exposure to integrative medicine, and a pleasurable
experience can be a foot in the door for additional person-to-person contact sessions.
In this way, the metaverse can expose individuals to integrative medicine therapies
and highlight the positive aspects of these therapies.
5
Drawbacks to the metaverse
There may also be drawbacks to the use of the metaverse in medicine including the
cost of implementation, depersonalization of medicine, communication errors, equipment
failures, and security vulnerabilities.
It has been documented that individuals may develop “Post VR sadness” or a “VR Hangover”
in which immediately following the use of virtual reality devices individuals may
experience a transient depressed mood.
30
In one randomized control trial, Virtual Reality gaming was shown to induce higher
rates of Depersonalization-derealization disorder (DPDR) than PC gaming.
30
In DPDR individuals have the sensation that they are disconnected from their physical
body, and that the world around them is unreal.
31
While this effect was shown following gaming, it is still uncertain if a similar effect
would be shown following the use of virtual reality for medical-related purposes.
Other side effects include the development of nausea, dizziness, and eye fatigue.
32
The depersonalization of medicine has become an additional concern when considering
the use of extended reality technology in the future of healthcare delivery. Due to
the relative infancy of extended reality and metaverse development, it would be difficult
to substantially support the notion that there currently exists an equal level efficacy
between the digital and physical approaches to interpersonal interaction. Currently,
the majority of research concerning the use of extended reality technology targets
its utility within medical education; the true implications for its use in interpersonal
physician-patient interactions is not fully understood and must be further explored.
Furthermore, the decentralized framework of the metaverse and its related technologies
fundamentally truncates the likelihood of traditional regulatory measures to remain
effective. Nevertheless, novel regulatory proposals which parallel the developmental
course of this technology should persist at the forefront of consideration to ensure
that the implementation and use of this technology remains congruent with the future
ethical standards of medical conduct.
6
Conclusion
The metaverse has a wide range of potential healthcare applications, and when paired
with AI, AR, and VR may profoundly improve medical education, medical literacy, promote
diversity, and more. Through enhancing telemedicine, the metaverse may expand the
reach of healthcare to better serve more patients. While attempts have been made to
implement metaverse technology into healthcare in various ways thus far, there is
much room for future growth. There may also be potential drawbacks to the use of the
metaverse in medicine that should be considered. For patients with psychiatric conditions,
there may be increased options for CBT, DBT, and virtual therapy. In terms of medical
education, some universities have already begun to implement augmented and virtual
reality technology as supplemental learning tools in the curriculum. The adoption
of extended reality tools for surgical training may revolutionize the paradigm of
traditional medical education. The metaverse may also expand access to educational
opportunities to underserved populations to help aspiring doctors gain exposure and
meet new mentors. In summary, by increasing the diversity of options available to
patients, healthcare providers, and educators more patients may ultimately benefit
from the adoption of the metaverse into the medical field.
Conflict of interests
The authors have no conflict of interests to declare.
Funding
None.
Ethical statement
Not applicable.
Data availability
Not applicable.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Abhimanyu S. Ahuja: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review
& editing. Bryce W. Polascik: Writing – review & editing. Divyesh Doddapaneni: Writing
– review & editing. Eamonn S. Byrnes: Writing – review & editing. Jayanth Sridhar:
Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing.