Metaverse Health

Archive for the ‘Logistics’ Category

I spent some time today reading some fascinating (offline) information about the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic and later on stumbled across an interesting article by Robert Bloomfield on the recent H1N1 (Swine Flu) outbreak. The take home message:

If you look at it this way, epidemics provide something of a ‘perfect storm’ for virtual worlds. They generate a strong demand for high-engagement distance collaboration (especially education for children and telecommuting for parents), and cause little damage to our infrastructure. So they are the right place to start.

It’s hard to argue with, although in a high-stress pandemic situation, it’s easy to see how people would naturally revert to to more hardy technologies like the phone. Time is likely to change that perspective though.

The Economist has an interesting article on the use of Second Life in training people around virtual consent. It’s an area where a virtual world has strengths (the ability to recreate a real-world situation) without some of the downfalls (lack of clinical complexity due to technological limitations).

Another aspect that has struck me over the past year is just how strong the UK is in virtual worlds and health. The Imperial College London (where this training exercise is being hosted) is one of the shining lights worldwide, with a number of other UK institutions undertaking research.

The Chi-Town Daily News has a good article on The
University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health recruiting public health workers to participate in emergency preparedness training, in Second Life.

Why bother? Here’s why:

Emergency preparedness training usually requires closing down facilities and calling people off of work—but conducting emergency drills virtually is less disruptive and more convenient, says Colleen Monahan, the study’s principal investigator. Nearly all public health departments in the U.S. train workers for emergencies through traditional tabletop exercises and simulated real world drills.

Nothing beats the real thing but in the disaster preparation space that’s not usually an option so the virtual world route can be a very useful adjunct.

Via Dusan Writer, here’s an interesting piece on the use of Second Life to train pharmacists in using pharmacy clean rooms.

I’ve had the opportunity to use pharmacy clean rooms myself , and I can see how a virtual walk through can be of use before doing the real thing.

The University of Arkansas have their hospital well underway in Second Life.

Dubbed ‘Razorback Hospital’, it’s purpose isn’t clinical in nature, more a prototype of how technologies like motion sensors and RFID can assist the functioning of a hospital. It’s all about health logistics.

The goals of the project are:

1. Explore the future of Healthcare Information Technology (and other applications)
2. Explore ubiquitous computing – Internet of Things – Everything is Alive – the Matrix
3. Explore modeling and simulation
4. Explore smart objects
5. Explore how to represent business processes (workflow, plans)
6. Explore software architectures – system of systems
7. Explore connecting a virtual world to the real world (cross world correspondences)
8. Explore new ways to teach and collaborate

For all the details, check the project website.