This year’s World of Health IT (WoHIT) in Barcelona has ended in a playful fashion, with a keynote from Manel Sort, Head of Studios at King.com, Spain; and Anna Sort, CEO & Co-Founder of PlayBenefit. The duo has spent almost an hour advocating the potential use of video gaming in healthcare saying that it could create what they call “epic wins” within the industry.
The session titled “From Candy Crush to Healthcare – Lessons Learned from Consumers’ Engagement in the Game Industry” suggested that video games could be an engaging tool to improve healthcare and analyzed the science behind video games.
“The lessons we have learned from the video game industry can be applied in a healthcare setting, to improve processes such as adherence to treatment, user empowerment, learning and behavioral change,” Anna Sort said. “It’s fundamental to advance technology and health to create links between professionals in different fields, and that’s exactly what WoHIT is doing, generating interest amongst a diverse range of profiles and backgrounds.”
That, of course, was just one of many sessions that took place at the event, which concluded following over two full days of educational sessions, evening networking receptions, entertainment, innovation and examples of best practice in healthcare IT.
One of the sessions was hosted by the recently launched HIMSS Europe Women in Health IT Community where we’ve learned that 57% of female European healthcare IT workers say that they have witnessed gender-related discrimination at work. Also, whole track were dedicated to Integrated Care, mHealth, and challenges of a modern CIO in a hospital/healthcare setting.
World of Health IT will be back next year for its next edition. In the meantime, we’ll be attending other digital health events throughout Europe. Stay tuned…