Nursing Students Interact With Virtual Patients
December 6th 2008
A virtual-reality world on the internet is being used to help train Scottish nursing students. Glasgow Caledonian University’s school of nursing decided to use the 3-D fantasy world known as Second Life to teach nurses how to interact with, and prioritise between patients.
Nursing Standard reports that students who take pert in the project create their own avatars, whose behaviour they control. They will treat virtual patients which have been designed to resemble typical patients and can be controlled by a tutor or artificial intelligence software.
The students carry out an assessment of each of the patients, using their own avatar, while being monitored by tutors.
Senior lecturer Jacqueline McCallum said: "A laboratory area has been created in Second Life. We are using it to help students with decision-making. There will be six avatars of patients in the ward and the students will have to decide what they should do and who they should treat first."
A trial will begin early next year, using a small number of students, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. It will be carried out on a private section of the island so that the students’ confidentiality can be maintained, says the university.
Caledonian University has previously used Second Life to give students the chance to interact in a replica campus. The idea was to help promote the work of the university and allow students to attend tutorials over the internet.
It also enabled prospective overseas students to experience the campus from their home country.
Subscribe or spread the word:
Related Information
