Second Life as a Health Care Tool

I recently joined Second Life and adopted an aviator who I named Roy Valerian. “Roy” because it was easy and “Valerian” because that is what Second Life suggested I use. I took an on line training course and also had an orientation to “Davis Island” which is used for Second Life at UC Davis for health care modeling and research. I also attended an on-line seminar titled Brain and Behavior by Malachi Pelunia.  The seminar I attended was titled “An Evening in Second Life with Philip Farber.” I guess Mr. Farber was a philosopher. And his discussion was about the “Neurology of Success”. I think it was a recorded session and I could hear others asking questions to the lecturer but I could not interact myself. It was kind of fun.

I am improving my skills in Second Life. It is a large and complex environment and really takes some work up front to get started. I was very surprised at my formal session with my classmates in the Health Informatics program at UC Davis. I noticed that I was nervous with a new group and I found myself staying near the avatar of a close friend, it seemed to make me more comfortable. I found my behavior very interesting. I think this brief encounter shows me that there is real potential for a human connection in Second Life.

I have considered how Second Life might be used in the physician-patient or nurse-patient relationship. I really believe there is a lot of potential in the area of psychiatric care and in patient counseling and teaching. I was quite moved by the “virtual hallucinations” on Davis Island. Frankly it was scary and I believe there is potential for patients to be able to really share with their provider the thoughts and behaviors they may have been experiencing. I think additionally there may be the potential for patients to ask their physician or provider questions they may be too embarrassed to ask face to face.  Maybe questions about illicit drug use or even sexual concerns or intimacy problems could be addressed using avatars. I can also see Second Life to be a safe environment where a patient could ask about psychological fears the patient may have.

I think a provider could “assign” patients directed Second Life activities in the area of patient teaching. Maybe the patient “attends” a weekly education session for a patient who is newly diagnosed with hypertension. These sessions could be led by nutrition specialists, providers, pharmacists and even other patients who are in good control and have made positive lifestyle changes that improved their hypertension. I also think Second Life could be a good environment for group sessions for some, like an AA meeting or other type of group activity. I also can see virtual patient tours of clinics, hospitals or health centers as a good potential use for Second Life.

Last, I think Second Life has endless opportunity for provider training. I think back to my training as a flight and field nurse. I think Second Life could give great opportunities for training emergency personnel in the concepts of incident safety and triage.  The most difficult situations in my nursing career have been complex ethical dilemmas. I think Second Life could be used to set up ethical scenarios for training purposes. I think “being there” would be much different than reading scenarios on paper and then saying “what would you do?”  I think this ethical training could be used for providers and ethics committees. I also think a form of this ethical training could be developed for provider-patient end-of-life discussions. Second Life has real potential as a tool for patient and provider education and for specific patient care situations.