The Power of Animation: The Benefits to Uncovering Procedures

The Power of Animation: The Benefits to Uncovering Procedures
Nov
25
Wed

What do you think of when you hear the word ‘animation’?

It’s something that we most likely associate within the context of cartoons or feature length movies.  They provide us with the comfort of fantasy allowing us to cosy up and lose ourselves with our nearest and dearest.  So perhaps we relate to animation from a leisure point of view, not necessarily extrapolating this over to the demands of a fast-paced clinic setting.

However, could animation be used to help both clinicians and patients?  Could it revolutionise our concept of healthcare and allow us to foster more meaningful relationships with our patients?

Reassured female patient with doctor

Animation is something that is gently weaving its way into the surgical field but it still can be seen as a ‘tomorrow’s world aspiration’.  Understanding its complexities and how clinicians can access this technology, whilst embedding it into every-day practice, will allow us to unlock its true potential.

How could animation help your clinics and consultations?

Let’s think about the majority of clinic settings right now, and how we prepare and educate patients in respect of forthcoming treatments or procedures. 

It is quite common for most conditions and procedures to be explained verbally by a clinician. These will include face-to-face consultations with the assistance of paper diagrams, models and drawings.  This is then sometimes compounded with either very little or no pre consultation information being given to the client prior to that meeting.  Leaflets form a large amount of supporting information too, which runs the risk of illustrating out of date information or guidance whilst also being a limited resource.  Put simply this means that they may not be on hand when you need them.  Given the busy schedule of clinic time, it is also reasonable to envisage that some procedures may be explained to a client or patient by another member of the team.  This therefore raises the issue of relying on others’ experience and communication skills to expertly guide and illustrate what can be expected during any given procedure. 

Senior doctor guiding junior doctor over patient notes

So how do you confidently ensure that each client or patient is fully informed within set standards – what they can expect both pre and post procedure and how can we help them gain a level of full understanding?  It’s difficult isn’t it; especially when it comes to explaining delicate and often complicated procedures to patients.  Added to this is appreciating that patients may have a limited understanding of the anatomy and physiology in respect to their condition.  Even the most expert of patients still need to have the procedures and risks comprehensively explained to them so they fully understand the benefits and risks of a procedure.

Now picture how animation could literally illustrate procedures and how this could both assist with patient consent whilst reinforcing patient understanding and foster greater trust. Imagine delving deep into a virtual knee joint or exploring in detail the physiology of an aorta with your patient next to you through the medium of animation.  What difference could this mean not just to your patients but also your wider team?  How could standardisation in terms of explaining procedures impact on your time within clinic; and could the use of animation facilitate more agile clinics and consultations, leading to more empowered patient choice?

Doctor explaining results of X-rays with female patient

The true benefits of animation

Managing our patient’s expectations is key when it comes to achieving great rehabilitation and subsequent clinical outcomes.

Just picture being in a situation where you could expertly demonstrate each step of a procedure with confidence in terms of scale, definition and accuracy; allowing your patients to fully see for themselves exactly what they are embarking on.  It also gives context to recovery and pain management during rehabilitation.

‘If a picture paints a thousand words, then video is worth a million’ rings true.  The power of animation can allow patients a much greater level of understanding whilst helping foster positive relationships.  Using up-to-date and accurate information delivered by the latest technology means that consultations can be far more dynamic, which is a reality right now - not a futuristic dream.

This type of investment is one that can be embedded into best practice and help reinforce the standardisation of information.  It ensures both consistency and compliance when it comes to explaining procedures to a range of unique patients whilst endeavoring to remove every barrier to ensure you are meeting their bespoke learning needs. 

Clinicians using technology for patient diagnosis

The expert team at Animotions.co.uk are well rehearsed in producing animated demonstrations and already have vast experience working within a number of clinical settings.  They have independently helped clinicians and colleagues both navigate the obstacles that conventional methods bring in terms of defining procedures and helped aid client / patient understanding across a multitude of disciplines.

Covering the minutiae of every detail, Animotions can design bespoke animations that can enable your patients to literally see for themselves what each procedure entails.  Having greater insight can bring about a greater understanding of risk and rehabilitation whilst managing expectations for life post procedure. 

Working directly with you, Animotions can bring their expertise in helping you define and explain yours, by creating tangible demonstrations.  These allow you to give your patients a front row seat in understanding their procedure pathway and enable clearer, empowered decision-making processes. Producing high quality, resolution rich graphics and animations, VR-Med can swiftly enhance your clinic offering keeping you both ahead of the competition but truly aligned when it comes to GMC guidance around consent.  It is now possible to bring your procedures and expertise to life, allowing your patients to make well-informed and robust decisions.

click here to find out more about how Animotions.co.uk can help your business.