Healthcare in metaverse: a survey on current metaverse applications in healthcare

  • Gaurang Bansal
  • , Karthik Rajgopal
  • , Vinay Chamola*
  • , Zehui Xiong*
  • , Dusit Niyato
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

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Abstract

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.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)119914-119946
Number of pages33
JournalIEEE Access
Volume10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 17 Nov 2022
Externally publishedYes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
    SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

  • 6G
  • AI
  • AR/VR
  • blockchain
  • healthcare
  • IoT
  • machine learning
  • Metaverse
  • networking

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Computer Science
  • General Materials Science
  • General Engineering

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