Virtual patients in Second Life
Earlier this week, I joined other members of the Medbiquitous Virtual Patient Working Group in Second Life for a virtual patient demo led by avatar Lucas N. We were hosted by St. George's University of London who apparently partnered with Daden Limited, a virtual world consultancy firm, to develop a virtual patient player that works in Second Life. Of course, all of the Virtual Patient data conforms to the Medbiquitous Virtual Patient Standard.
Using the HUD (heads-up display) to collect necessary tools and instructions for our virtual patient case, we were led to our victim who appeared to have skidded and fallen from his motorcycle (check out the skid marks). He was conscious and able to answer questions. We all took turns poking at various body parts to obtain physical exam data, which was rendered to us via text with instructions to discuss options with the team before proceeding with further assessment and treatment decisions. Since he reported his pain to be 10 on a scale of 1-10, we gave him some ibuprofen--I don't remember why we gave him Paracetamol, I don't even know what it is. Lucas pulled a variety of props from his paramedic bag and secured our patient's leg and slid the backboard under him. I'm not really sure how the props got there, and I don't know how we would have transported our guy to the nearest hospital. I'm thinking instead of flying in, next time we should probably bring an ambulance along...
Other's doing cool medical stuff in Second Life: The list below only represents some of the interesting things I've had the pleasure to view, participate in, or just stumble blindly into.
Ann Myers Medical Center -- I've attended meetings in AAMC with Berci and other interns and educators where the someone presents a case and the group discusses diagnosis and treatment. Often presentations include in-world powerpoint slides and other visual aids. I've also interacted with some educational tools in their radiology department, and I've listened to heart sounds. I wouldn't advise lying down in the MRI machine though, r0wsbud antfarm got a little stuck and had to fly out.
Virtual Patients at the Imperial College of London -- After watching the video, I thought this VP encounter felt a little less "real." You need to click on signs on the wall to hear the patients' breath sounds, instead of on the patient's chest. However, it gets the job done. The ability to suspend disbelief is important in any of these simulations, as physicians don't typically click on their patients to gather information, do procedures or administer meds, etc. That's not to say that they won't be able to click on us in the future to activate whatever implanted system our meds are being delivered from or get a read from the various tracking devices we'll have implanted in us.
SLICE (Second Life Institute for Clinical Education) -- I've been watching this location spring up for months and am interested in learning more about this project, waiting to hear back from the project director at the University of Illinois, Chicago Medical Center. Obviously, it was the 'clinical education' that got me interested.
NESIM (Nursing Education Simulation) -- I became interested in learning more about this group after seeing presentation at Games for Health 2008. During the presentation I became convinced I had stumbled on to this nursing simulation space in my SL travels. After the conference, I tried to return and found the space restricted. (related article)
Second Health Polyclinic, London -- We squatted here, borrowing one of the emergency department examining rooms to try out a doctor/patient encounter once. Our virtual patient survived the appendectomy and the follow-up explosion. We also used one of their elevators as a scene to experiment with recreating a training video using avatars instead of live actors.
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