Second Life Used to Train Med Students
Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Second, Life, Game, Medical, Students | Themes: The Internet, Software
There's no question that Second Life isn't a game. In fact, the virtual social world has transformed into somewhat of an entity, a way of life for many of its fans, and a useful platform for musicians, colleges, and universities since its launch back in 2003. Now the Imperial College London, among other institutions, is using the 3-D realm to prepare its students in health-care training programs.
As reported by DISCOVER Magazine, the institution has built a virtual hospital--complete with a Respiratory ward, an operating room, and an O.R.--that enables students to order tests, listen to a patient's chest, diagnose problems, and virtually perform most of the tasks carried out in the real world. Although virtual simulations have been used for years as a part of medical training, students apparently prefer the Second Life approach.
“No kid wants to put in a CD-ROM and do a set sim--they want interactivity and social networking,” said John Miller, a nursing instructor who created the Nursing Education Simulation (YouTube video) used within Second Life. “SL takes what’s great about simulations and gives them that social aspect. It’s more like real life.”
However critics have questioned the health-care education simulations in Second Life, saying that too little research has been done to see if the virtual tasks actually educate the students. But universities such as Imperial College London have been gathering evidence on the virtual world's effectiveness on its students.
“We tested [the virtual O.R.] in a controlled experiment on 40 first-year medical students prior to their first visit to a real O.R," reports ICL's David Taylor, director of virtual worlds and medical media in the Department of Biosurgery and Surgical Technology. "We wanted to determine if [the SL program] gives them more confidence before their first exposure to the real thing. We’ve found it is just as effective as the training O.R. in the physical world.”
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/facepalm.
And then your realize your virtual wife has virtual breast cancer...
"complete with a Respiratory ward, an operating room, and an O.R."
I wonder if it also has an emergency room and an E.R. And I bet it's full of medical doctors and M.D.'s.
This is a terrible idea. Med students need to learn on REAL patients in real situations. This simulator will only simulate what you can already read in a textbook. Anyone who works in healthcare knows there is a LOT more to medicine than is found in textbooks. Med schools in the UK employ actors to "simulate" patients for exams and introductory training but nobody pretends they can replace thousands of hours of real experience with human beings. This is like saying you can learn social skills from WoW.
I'm glad I'm not a student at Imperial, if they're planning to replace expensive but invaluable clinical teaching with a simulator.
As for the developers: another desperate attempt to find an actual point to 2nd life - the world's dullest MMORPG-meets-doll's-playhouse.
Add some blood and it might make a cool game though... :-)
Of course the real upside to training in SL like this is to teach the students how to deal with griefers!
I think this is a very interesting and hot new innovation. Some of the technology simulation games that are being developed include a sensory experience component that can add value to muscle memory training. If the army/defense us games and simulation to train for combat, then the medical profession can certainly do so as well. One of the nice things about the simulation experience is that doctors can train on surgery or other related issues that may not always occur enough in real life to provide proper training. I recently wrote a post on this topic and discussed how IT professionals in the gaming and simulation industry should consider transferring their skills to the medical simulation industry. You should check it out - -http://ithirewire.com.
And then your realize your virtual wife has virtual breast cancer...
Your comment ain't far from the truth. Atually, you can have virtual babies. There is people that work for money in second life ( there is currency exchange in dollars/linden). Linden is the money on second life. People pay for virtual lands.
Thanks for the currency exchange, there are musicians having their career in SL ( Yeah there are actually bands (jazz, pop, rock, OPERA).
In my opinion... SL is scary, you can have highest the expectations out of it, and believe me, you'll still be short with your imagination.
Thanks to these infinite possibilities. It is dangerously addictive. Peeple has loss their "lives" (wives, relationships, work) just because of this little App that takes roughly 25 MB to download.
I can say this because I entered for a couple of days...and damn it, The sims is ABC compared to SL.
It is designed to compliment training not replace it. It allows them to see cause and affect before experimenting on live patients and crowding hospital space. The test subjects may be controlled by supervisors, scripted actors or AI. The supervisors can monitor progress and interaction without getting in the way. The SL training is probably more life like than actors and less risky than live patients.
Does this mean vets will start training on all the virtual furries in SL?
Does this mean vets will start training on all the virtual furries in SL?
Get the scalpal away form me!
JK.
I don't play 2L.
This is about stupid, waste of time and they probably used some form of taxpayer dollars to pay for it, maybe the porkulus bill the hacks in DC passed without even reading it!
exactly. +1
It is designed to compliment training not replace it. It allows them to see cause and affect before experimenting on live patients and crowding hospital space. The test subjects may be controlled by supervisors, scripted actors or AI. The supervisors can monitor progress and interaction without getting in the way. The SL training is probably more life like than actors and less risky than live patients.
i wonder if u can take a virtual crap lol
"It is designed to compliment training not replace it. It allows them to see cause and affect before experimenting on live patients and crowding hospital space. The test subjects may be controlled by supervisors, scripted actors or AI. The supervisors can monitor progress and interaction without getting in the way. The SL training is probably more life like than actors and less risky than live patients."
No, I call BS. No way is this more life like its a damned computer game. Is holding a mouse like firing a gun in an FPS? Of course not! If holding a mouse like holding a cannula? Or a scalpel? Hell no!
This is either a lame gimmick or a worrying cut in med students training that is being sold as a "breakthrough". History taking and physical examination skills cannot be simulated with actors, let alone NPCs. Rubber models are already used to simulate specific techniques which are refined by supervised experience on real patients because that is the only way to learn to do things properly.
Every second wasted on 2nd life would be better spent at the bedside with real humans who are actually sick. Most students don't get enough as it is, and this shows when they become junior docs. The idea that 2nd life could add anything to medical training is a cheap scam to cut teaching.
Does this mean vets will start training on all the virtual furries in SL?
haha ...Tamagotchi meets Second Life
i wonder if u can take a virtual crap lol
Actually you can use toilets
And yeah there is virtual crap.
I know when/if I have a heart attack I want to be treated by someone who learned thier medical skills in Second Life...
NOT!!!