Virtual worlds for real-life problems
“Many people think that Second Life is just for entertainment, but it’s so much more than that.” says Dave. “Imperial was one of the founders of the science and technology region in Second Life, along with NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.”
Researchers within Medicine have been studying how to use Second Life and similar virtual environments to enhance the relationship between clinicians and patients as well as train new doctors more efficiently.
Dave’s team have been building a Second Life imitation of a real chemotherapy clinic being built in Brooklyn. The clinic approaches chemotherapy treatment in a completely different way to traditional hospitals, and the novel concepts will take staff and patients time to get used to. The Second Life clinic is based on the specifications of the real building, from the rooms and windows down to the furniture and equipment.
“Typically staff have only a few days to get used to a new hospital building before it opens to the public” explains Dave. “With a Second Life build exactly replicating it, staff can train for much longer beforehand in the virtual hospital, testing their operating procedures and planning their daily routines.”
The Medical Media and Design Laboratory, headed by Professor Lord Ara Darzi, hope that their research into Second Life can be used by hospitals across the world to test out new buildings as well as prepare for evacuations and fires, something not usually possible in a busy hospital with vulnerable patients.
“Through our work with the National Health Service in the UK, we have extensive experience of running projects and events in Second Life.” explains Dave. “We’ve seen how effective it can be as a learning tool and how networking has evolved when it happens in a virtual world.”
Working through Imperial Consultants enables the lab to use the College brand and work on consultancy projects as a team, putting the profits back into their research.
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