Healthcare’s entrance into the metaverse isn’t as intimidating as you may think

The metaverse holds promising potential to transform healthcare delivery for the better, according to a keynote talk delivered at MedCity's Invest Digital Health conference. The speaker identified workforce training, patient experience, healthcare facilities and medical manufacturing as the main areas poised for disruption. It actually holds promising potential to transform healthcare delivery for the better, according to a keynote talk delivered by Mona Flores, Nvidia’s global head of medical AI, at MedCity’s Invest Digital Health conference in Dallas on Wednesday. Flores defined the metaverse as an immersive network of connected virtual worlds, calling it the “3D evolution of the Internet.” At Nvidia, she helped build Omniverse, the company’s platform for building and operating metaverse applications. “ The metaverse will extend the web pages of the Internet today to 3D spaces and worlds,” Flores said. The metaverse is poised to disrupt various aspects of healthcare  Flores identified workforce training, patient experience, healthcare facilities and medical manufacturing as the main areas to be excited about. Entering the metaverse will can help healthcare workers and patients feel more comfortable, according to Flores. Metaverse technologies can similarly help healthcare manufacturers, Flores pointed out. In order to truly leverage the metaverse, they said it may seem like the U.S. healthcare workforce would need to learn to maneuver these technologies and gain a deep understanding of AI, data science and engineering. Flores also doesn’t believe that engaging in the metaverse will require all healthcare employees to have a firm grasp of complicated technology.