Online Medical Education Progresses with Virtual Reality
Set against the backdrop of a tropical island, faculty members at Vanderbilt University attend continuing education courses and seminars aimed at enhancing their effectiveness in the classroom. And while attendees must fly to the island, it's not a place they can reach in a plane or a boat. In fact, it's not an actual physical location at all. Rather, it is a private island in the virtual world of Second Life.
The use of virtual learning environments such as Second Life is becoming increasingly popular in the healthcare industry - both for hosting informational patient clinics and training future healthcare practitioners. The Mayo Clinic recently built its own island in Second Life, as did Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Both organizations use their virtual facilities to host conferences on topics such as colon cancer, heart disease and stress reduction.
Virtually Hands On
According to Betsy Weiner, senior associate dean at Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, the university received 1.3 million dollars in funding to develop a Second Life presence for the university. The purpose of the simulations is to train faculty members in the management of clinical simulations. "We're starting to provide some patient care as well," Weiner said. "We can actually meet with patients in Second Life."
"This type of patient care isn't appropriate for those who require direct, hands-on care," she said. "But it can work well for those patients who require frequent communication sessions with their doctors or nurses."
Vanderbilt University spent about 18 months developing their private island in Second Life. The buildings on the island are near replicas of those on the Vanderbilt campus - from the building layouts to the carpeting to the artwork in the hallways. Those building modifications that were made were done to improve navigation, Weiner said. This included widening hallways, removing roofs and adding observation rooms so that several people can observe a simulation without getting in the way, she said.
"It takes some getting used to and definitely requires some user support because you need to learn how to sit, stand walk and fly around the virtual environment," Weiner said. "People who are video gamers have no problem getting started."
The Advantages of Virtual Simulation
Elsevier is one educational publisher and provider of online learning environments that has adapted the video game-like graphics of virtual worlds to their own instructional needs. While it is not as immersive as a virtual world such as Second Life, Evolve, Elsevier's health and medical learning platform, includes segments of three-dimensional simulations as part of their overall instructional design. "You are literally walking through the hospital, opening the patient's door, taking the patient's chart," said Dan Behar, Elsevier's Director of Communication in Marketing. He says this prepares students mentally for the clinical experience.
Behar says that one of the biggest advantages of virtual world simulation is real-time assessment. "Every action that you take is being logged and then the instructor can see if you asked the patient the right questions and administered the right medications," said Behar. "We can give the feedback so quickly that students are able to learn very rapidly from their mistakes, not two or three, four days later."
What's Next for VR Simulations
Regarding the faculty members' experiences in Second Life, Weiner said that she has received very positive feedback. "They are really enjoying it," she said. "Initially a few had trouble, but once they got over that, they were happy."
Now that the island is complete, Weiner said that the school's main goal is to maintain the island and continue offering faculty training and patient care. They also would like to overcome the program's dependence on Second Life. "Right now, we are very dependent on Second Life and their viability," Weiner said. "What if it gets bought out or it suddenly shuts down? Everything we have built is within Second Life. We would have to start all over again."
To overcome this issue, the institution has been looking into other virtual learning environments. They plan to transfer their data to a new environment as a precaution, she said.
"When we created the Second Life island, I was very naïve about how much of a time commitment it would be to create," Weiner said. "It's definitely not for everyone, but it's quite workable for those who can pull it off - and it certainly is fun."
Online Course Finder
Find the path to your
education in 3 easy steps.
