Physician-Patient Education in a Virtual World

In considering potential doctor-patient applications in virtual world environments like Second Life, I must admit to having some mixed feelings.  I have been exploring Second Life over the past few days and find the experience interesting but frustrating as well.  I see health education opportunities in this technology, but I also see some pitfalls.

I have a wireless connection with my computer, which I believe is common for many people.  Apparently, this can cause some glitches compared with performance when your computer is hard wired to the network.  I have had some glitches with the performance of my avatar which I will ascribe to my wireless connection.  These glitches make the experience a bit cumbersome and would affect the experience that many would have in these types of virtual worlds due to the prevalence of wireless use of the internet.  I wonder if these challenges would put a damper on the positives of using this kind of environment. 

If these limitations could be overcome, and I am confident that they will be, I can see many opportunities for education of patients by their doctors using this kind of technology, especially when dealing with the younger generations.  Young people seem to believe that everything is better when done using a computer.  Their preference for using computer technology could be capitalized upon when providing educational opportunities for this group.  Any type of education, be it learning about healthy choices, learning about a newly diagnosed disease state or preparing for a procedure, operation or hospitalization, could be presented in an appealing way by using this technology.  While reading a brochure or watching a video might be perceived as “boring” and therefore avoided, providing education in a virtual world environment could peak the curiosity and interest of someone who holds a fascination for computer technology, thereby making it much more likely that they would engage and participate in the learning.  Also, when your imagination is engaged, as I find it is when I am in Second Life, I think your concentration is also improved and you would be more likely to remember the information you are receiving. 

Another benefit of this format for learning is, depending on how well you set up your site, the participant could seek out the information and experiences they want and need without the doctor having to always anticipate what their questions and/or needs might be.  Of course, it would be important to try to cover all your bases initially, when developing and constructing your program but, after that, participants would be free to explore and seek out the answers to the questions they feel are important to them and not waste time or risk losing their attention by providing information they already have or have no use for.  Many educators see the benefit of self directed learning.  It is the foundation of the Montessori philosophy, which has proved to be a popular and successful way to educate children.  Learning in a virtual world would utilize this same concept and would hopefully yield a similar success.  We just need to work out a few bugs!