Healthcare and the Metaverse: Reimagined or Refragmentation of Care?

Abstract

Abstract From virtual waiting rooms to AI-driven digital twins that predict adverse conditions, the metaverse promises to reimagine the very concept of healthcare. However, the new types of seamless digital experiences that it enables also necessitate prerequisites that can further fragment an already scattered system. This chapter narratively reviews the emergence of healthcare in the metaverse to: 1) map current metaversal healthcare activity and 2) identify systemic challenges that could devolve healthcare in the metaverse into ‘multi-verse’ fragments. It synthesises these findings to propose a translational framework – the metaversal healthcare framework. By adopting innovative medical futures techniques, the framework aims to guide implementation, converting speculative hype into evidence-based roadmaps and ensuring that infinite virtual worlds augment, rather than compromise, real-world well-being.

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