Xploro - the innovative way to empower young patients with information
by Startacus Admin
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The lowdown on Xploro, the Manchester-based startup that's using AR, gameplay and AI to deliver health information to young patients.
When children are hospitalised, they are too frequently left in the dark, unsure what to expect. Hospitals are too short staffed for anyone to spend any real time with them and prepare them for the procedure they are there for, and what printed resources they may provide have gone through many hands before and often aren’t in the best condition or have been wrecked completely and not replaced.
This lack of knowledge and understanding of everything that is happening and will happen is stressful and increases the patient’s anxiety. In turn, this can have a negative impact on the outcome of the procedure.
Manchester-based startup Xploro has created a platform to help young patients by empowering them with information.
Xploro uses augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and gameplay to engage and inform patients while giving them something fun to interact with. By using language that younger patients will understand and providing information in this way, the goal is to ease their fear and stress. This should help reduce treatment times and repeat procedures, as well as increasing general levels of medical literacy, which particularly helps if the patient has a condition that they will be living with for a long time.
The app allows the patient to design the look of a chatbot avatar, which will be able to answer their questions, tell jokes, and more. It will teach the patient more about medical equipment and processes, and individual medical staff roles. The built-in mood diary will not only help them to put down their feelings, but will also help parents and medical staff better understand how they are feeling, and further feedback can be gathered through questionnaires. Xploro has an Expert Advisory Board composed of 9- to 17-years-olds from across the UK, who provide their feedback and suggestions for every part of the app to ensure that it is always friendly to those it is intended for.
Already in use and benefiting patients in the UK, US, and Africa, a £100,000 loan from the Greater Manchester Export Fund will help the startup grow their team and expand internationally.
A fab innovation by all accounts! And whilst we're not sure if they applied, we reckon that Xploro is just the sort of thing that would have been of interest to the folk at the Alder Hey Innovation Lab accelerator programme.
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Published on: 1st December 2021
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