Uses of Second LifeTM in Doctor-Patient Relationships

Until professor Yellowlees, M.D., introduced Second Life into our Health Informatics curriculum, I had never heard of Second Life. In short, Second Life allows computer participants, in the form of avatars, to interact with each other via the Internet. An avatar is an electronic image that looks like a human. It represents, and is created and manipulated by, a computer user. The avatar can be anything the user would want it to be; there's no limitation to size, image, appearance, sex or race, et cetera, as is physically imposed upon us in human form. If an avatar is too tall to get through a door, it can be resized instantly to walk through the entrance gallantly. The avatar can fly, walk, drive, run, sit, stand, talk and so forth.

Professor Yellowlees led our class as avatars to visit a Virtual Hallucinations & Mass Prophylaxis training environment on a private "Davis Island" on Second Life. In this virtual hallucination environment our avatars moved around the island, and we heard simulated voices mimicking what a schizophrenia patient might have heard. Among other places on "Davis Island", our avatars flew to the virtual Sacramento County Disaster Clinic for Bio-terrorism Exercises where our avatars interacted with, and helped each other. Meanwhile, we (as humans), communicated via VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and IM (Instant Messaging).

Next day, my avatar was a solo visitor in Second Life's "Second Health Hospital London" where I visited the Well Being Building, which promotes healthy living practices for the local community and health practitioners. It also has a centre which promotes health education and holds conferences for patient and professional learning. Inside the Well Being Building, there's a large swimming pool, gym, drop-in clinic to help people with weight loss, stopping smoking, and cholesterol tests. Another place my avatar visited was the Resuscitaton Council (UK). It has many helpful education posters, such as accessing stroke symptoms. One of its posters states: "Suspect a stroke? Act FAST. Call 999." FAST stands for Facial weakness, Arm weakness, Speech problems, and Test these symptoms. These places were vast and empty when visited solo.

How could Second Life be used in a doctor-patient relationship? I believe it would be very useful for engaging in interactive education or for communicating with a patient in a secured Internet environment. An interesting article, "Can Second Life Help Teach Doctors to Treat Patients?" can be found at http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/30/doctors.second.life/index.html.

At the present moment, the Second Life doctor-patient model, I believe, has its down side. In order to maximize the interactive experience, the patient would need a high speed Internet connection, secured online access, and would have to be comfortable with using the computer to communicate with his or her doctor in the form of an avatar; this is something not everybody could or would like to do. Would this model work well with older adult patients? Could it be effective in rural areas where the Internet might not be readily available to everyone in the community (lecture 4 Telemedicine)? What about the probable breach of Internet security? On the other hand, this model could work well among younger generations as many of them have mastered the skills of collaborating via the Internet.

Will Second Life and Telemedicine (lecture 4 Telemedicine) become a part of our routine healthcare visits? If so, when might that be?