Why XR Solutions Built with Unity Are the Future of Remote Medical Consultations

The growing strain on healthcare services at all levels is palpable. As more and more patients try to gain access to medical services and consultations, the cracks in the system are starting to show. It’s not just that people are having to travel further for treatment as hospitals become decentralised, but they are also frequently having to wait significantly more time for an initial consultation and diagnosis. That is even before any treatment can start, so a patient is likely to experience a significant time period between first reporting an illness or condition to actually having a course of treatment completed.

The entire healthcare system is now disjointed and performing poorly. Luckily, there are moves to remedy the situation using the latest XR in healthcare technology.

While the actual treatment and care for a diagnosed patient is usually dependent upon the use of specialist equipment and medication, the initial consultations are knowledge based and while they require a specialist, they can be done remotely and do not generally require the use of professional apparatus.  

In many cases, the consultation can be completed via a telephone conversation, but it becomes a much better solution if it is immersive. Obviously, a video-link connection makes a consultation much more immersive, but XR technologies can take it to a whole new level of interactivity.

Headsets capable of delivering high-quality immersive experiences are now relatively cheap, making the process of delivering medical excellence much easier, and more comforting for the patient. But having good quality hardware is only part of the solution and it becomes meaningless if the apps being used for the consultation aren’t good enough. This then becomes a question of the software package being used to create the Apps, and increasingly, developers are using high-end software to create these.

Developing Professional Medical Consultation Apps

Unity is an excellent platform for the development of XR experiences, and it is being utilised more frequently in the healthcare sector for the purpose of medical consultations, training, and patient education. By capitalising on Unity’s interactive simulations and 3D visualisation capabilities, XR solutions can enhance numerous aspects of healthcare delivery.

A medical App of this nature needs to be more than just a simple communications tool, and ideally must have a number of features that help with the diagnosis of the patient. Typically, a private meeting room that includes the medical professional and the patients requires a good deal of curating and organisation.  

One of the major growth areas within the NHS is that of Regional Medical Advisors (RMA’s) who specialise in helping with the introduction of new technologies (amongst other duties), and would be highly instrumental in the deployment and training of VR consultation rooms.

Once developed, these bespoke VR rooms could be utilised by many different doctors and consultants to help connect with suitably-equipped patients, wherever they are in the country.

This means that not only healthcare can be tailored to the specific needs of the patient, but it can be delivered remotely too, making it more convenient for both the patients and the professionals delivering it. RMAs are going to grow in use and complexity, and this will mean that any package used to develop the structure will need to be of the highest specification and capabilities.

Building the Right Platforms

The NHS is nothing if not a professional body, offering professional services, and any virtual meeting and consultation rooms developed would have to be constructed to the highest standards. While the Unity software is certainly a sufficiently-professional package to design such VR content, the real issues lie with securing the Unity Development professionals who have the skills to create the rooms.

VR has given us the power to visualise 3D environments, and that is ideal for the creation of online meeting rooms, but there is a huge difference between a simple meeting room and one that has the professionalism needed for something as formal as medical consultations. This becomes an issue of the capabilities of the Unity Agency tasked with designing the environment; the software is certainly up to the task, but it needs to be balanced by an agency that is sufficiently professional and technically-minded.

Finding the right Unity agency can be difficult, but undoubtedly, Unity Developers are certainly one the best professional developers in the market. We are a highly talented team of developers, 3D artists and UI/UX designers with an unsurpassed background in the design and development of Unity-based environments. The team is highly experienced in the development of VR Apps, online gaming, and commercial applications for industry.

Telehealth is a rapidly growing sector of the healthcare industry, and it can be made even more effective and engaging by the use of VR. This has enormous potential in both timesaving for senior staff, patient-engagement, and quality of delivery, and could be the use of technology that the NHS needs to embrace to place itself firmly in the 21st century.

Virtual medical platforms are in their infancy, but growing fast. The huge advantages that Unity-based environments can bring to everyday medicine are going to shake up the industry and lead to a streamlining of practices, and greater efficiency. However, if the NHS is going to embrace these new ways of working, they are going to have to work with professional teams such as Unity Developers.