How gamification can improve healthcare processes

Gamification and healthcare: perhaps not the first combination you would expect. However, adding game elements such as points, badges and challenges can make a world of difference for both patients and care providers. Making healthcare processes just that little bit more playful and appealing increases patient motivation and creates more room for a people-centred, personalised healthcare experience. Sounds interesting? In this article, we talk about the ways you could apply gamification in healthcare.

What is Gamification (and why does it work so well)?

Gamification means using game techniques in a non-game context. For example, earning points for meeting health goals, badges for daily habits, or even a leaderboard for shared challenges. This is not necessarily about ‘winning’ but about giving people that little push. Gamification addresses our desire to achieve goals and be rewarded. A virtual pat on the back could be just what someone needs to keep going!

How gamification really improves healthcare

Gamification can help at all sorts of places in the healthcare process - from prevention and diagnosis to treatment and recovery. Here are some practical examples:

1. Therapy adherence: a sticker for each step

Patients often drop out of their treatment plan, which is a shame. Gamification can motivate them to persevere, for example with an app that awards badges or virtual medals for every week they take their medication. Each ‘success moment’ provides a positive incentive, improving adherence and really improving outcomes.

2. Encourage healthy lifestyles with a playful nudge

Keeping track of steps, eating healthier or exercising regularly can be quite a challenge. Apps that count steps or reward nutrition goals with points and badges make a healthy lifestyle just a little more appealing. Add a touch of competition, such as friend challenges or family scoring, and you have a recipe for a healthy habit that can be maintained!

3. Recovery and rehabilitation: a playful stick

Rehabilitation can be quite tough and sometimes even a bit boring. With gamification, recovery becomes something to look forward to. An app that turns daily exercises into challenges and in which patients see their own progress in ‘levels’ makes the whole process visual and rewarding. Thus, gamification keeps motivation high and people get closer to their recovery step by step.

4. Working smarter for healthcare providers

Gamification can also be supportive for care providers. A dashboard in which goals and progress are visible in real time, for instance, can help keep the work clear. A handy extra is a scoreboard with achieved results, giving everyone a positive boost. Because fair is fair, even healthcare could use a playful touch sometimes!

5. Learning and awareness in a playful way

Gamification also works when you want people to learn more about their health. Interactive quizzes or small assignments help patients understand health risks and make informed choices. Because say it yourself: who would rather take a playful quiz than a boring lecture?

What are the benefits of gamification in healthcare?

The biggest benefit? Motivated patients and more efficient care processes. But there's more:

• Higher engagement: Care becomes more personal, fun and feels more like a collaboration than a ‘should.’
• Better treatment outcomes: Patients faithfully follow treatments and thus make more progress.
• Positive care experience: Game elements make people smile, and that translates into a more positive experience.
• **More efficiency for caregivers:**More overview and real-time feedback make the work for caregivers a lot easier.