Revolutionizing Medical Processes Through Phygital Technology: A Multiple Case Study Approach

In our increasingly interconnected world, the line between the physical and digital is blurring: Phygital technology, the synergistic fusion of these two realms, is transforming industries, particularly healthcare, by opening new frontiers in how we interact with the world. Phygital technology seamlessly integrates physical and digital elements to create engaging, interactive, and personalized experiences (Kalra et al., 2023). Healthcare, inherently focused on human interaction and personalized care, faces unique digital-age challenges (Frascolla, 2020). Emerging technologies in the healthcare field, within the digital and virtual ecosystems, can facilitate hyper-personalized, data-driven care, leading to earlier disease detection, tailored therapies, and improved patient outcomes through individualized, predictive, and empathetic engagement (Paton et al., 2024). Phygital technology offers a powerful solution in this direction, promising to enhance the patient experience, streamline healthcare processes, and revolutionize diagnosis, treatment, and care. It leverages the power of the digital to enrich and amplify real-world interactions. This integration rests on three key pillars (Maci, 2024): ● Physical-Digital Integration: Phygital technology bridges the gap between the physical and digital using sensors, smart devices, and digital platforms. These interconnected elements create a dynamic ecosystem where information flows effortlessly between the real and virtual. ● Interactivity and Personalization: Phygital technology enables highly interactive and personalized experiences, tailoring the user journey to individual needs and preferences. This interactivity can be achieved through touchscreens, augmented reality, virtual reality, and interfaces. other human-machine ● Data Collection and Processing: Phygital technology facilitates the collection and analysis of vast amounts of data from diverse sources. This data provides valuable insights, informs better decision-making, and further personalizes the user experience. Phygital technology has enormous potential to revolutionize healthcare, with applications spanning from patient management to cuttingedge medical research. It is possible to consider some examples; Phygital solutions empower patients through personalized health management apps, remote vital sign monitoring, and convenient telemedicine consultations. Besides, Phygital technology optimizes workflows through digital medical record management, efficient appointment scheduling, and streamlined administrative tasks; specifically Phygital tools support more accurate diagnoses and effective treatments through medical image analysis, surgical simulations, and robotic-assisted procedures. Moreover, Phygital technology accelerates research by enabling the collection and analysis of massive datasets, the creation of virtual organ and tissue models, and the simulation of complex clinical scenarios. In this way, Phygital technology represents a promising frontier for healthcare: its ability to merge the physical and digital worlds offers a unique opportunity to improve patient care, optimize healthcare delivery, and drive innovation in medical research. Drawing on the research conducted into the "Phygital Twin Technologies for innovative Surgical Training & Planning" of the Rome Technopole program, this poster presents a first artifact solution related to the phygital technology was analysed, allowing to investigate the cross-advantages of a physical product with its digital twin. For this type of artifact, it will be necessary to understand how to guarantee the immediacy, immersion and interaction of users with respect to the clinical case for which the phygital experience is designed.