You have a bad case of a flying
penis
Doctors and surgeons are apparently using the out of fashion social
notworking site Second Life to train themselves.
The online 3-D is being
used to simulate real crisis in the operating room. Imperial College London
has built a virtual hospital, where students can learn their way around an
O.R. before they enter the real thing. They can test their knowledge in
the Virtual Respiratory Ward by interviewing patient avatars who are usually
professors or volunteers who are given scripts, ordering tests, diagnosing problems, and recommending treatment.
Using software which was written at
San Jose State University, clinical students can use the Heart Murmur Sim,
which lets users listen to real cardiac sounds, training them to listen to a
“patient’s” chest and identify heart murmurs. Students wear a heads-up
display, similar to those used by pilots, which shows data like the
patient’s blood pressure, heart rhythm, and medical history. Then they click
on objects such as a medication dispenser or the controls of an IV
pump.
When an object is clicked on, it triggers another heads-up display,
allowing students to select, for instance, a certain medication, the
dosage, and how to administer it. The patient avatar will react realistically. Apparently if a student gives a patent too much
nitroglycerine the avatar’s blood pressure will sink and he’ll go into
shock. We would have thought he would have exploded, but we are not
doctors.