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Gamifying Patient Engagement: Driving Quality Care in a Changing Climate
As climate change reshapes the world, healthcare is also being made to accommodate. Extreme weather, rising temperatures, and shifting disease patterns are not distant thoughts. Today they are directly affecting patient health. It means healthcare providers need to come up with new ways to involve patients and deliver quality care.
One solution that is emerging is gamification.
The term gamification is defined as the application of game-like elements in non-game contexts. In healthcare, it can spur patients to help manage their own well-being. So now, for example, a mobile app might offer points for hydration tracking during heatwaves or step accounting in indoor spaces. Some of these features are simple but very interactive with patients, helping the patients know what is going on and keeping them involved in their care. This is not just to make health management fun, it’s to actually drive real behavior change. There are studies that indicate that gamification improves patient engagement and adherence to any health routine (Sardi et al., 2017).
This is all the more urgent due to climate change. Patients are in need of tools for them to adapt to new health risks that are developing like heat stress or respiratory issues caused by poor air quality. This gap can be bridged using gamification. It allows the sharing of timely information and leads one to proactive habits. Picture an app that delivers rewards for showing up to community cooling centers, or to completing heatstroke prevention educational quizzes. These tools can change learning from a solitary, boring experience, to a shared, fun one.
For quality-driven care, also aligns with engaging patients in this way. Providers can tailor care to the individual based on data collected by gamified platforms. One example is if a patient frequently logs heat-related symptoms, care teams can come in earlier. Using real-time data to improve outcomes and build trust is how they are using it. Yet, adaption to climate health risks moves care from reactive to proactive, a critical change.
Gamification can also help you build a sense of community.
Many patients feel isolated on their health journeys. Another place to reduce this…
