IBM Opens New 3D Virtual Healthcare Island on Second Life

Massive congrats to my colleagues Gina Jesberg, Pranab Sharma and their teams on the upcoming launch of IBM's "vHealth" island in Second Life.

What they've built is an innovative 3D environment to help people experience how healthcare is being revolutionized by enabling health information to be deeply networked and easily exchanged.

To visit the island in Second Life, simply search on "IBM Healthcare." The island was also developed with an innovative HUD, or heads-up display, to help visitors navigate their experience.

Electronic healthcare is also about evolving toward a system more focused on patients, not technology. To that end the IBM Virtual Healthcare user experience begins with the patient in the home, where a visitor can create a facsimile of their Personal Health Record (FYI: More than 150,000 IBMers in the U.S already have access to an electronic version of their healthcare data.)

Visitors can then see how their personal, electronic health records can securely interact with the other major parts of a connected, interoperable ehealthcare system: doctors' offices, hospitals, pharmacies, laboratories, etc.

The island is debuting as part of the HIMSS 2008 conference, one of the world's largest healthcare events.

Here's a bit more on how the island will serve as an interactive simulation of eHealth:

Visitors can then walk, fly or use "transporters" to visit the various island stations:

--  The Patient's Home: In the secure environment of a private home,
    patient avatars can initiate a PHR and populate it with their personal
    health characteristics and clinical history, accessed and downloaded from
    physician EMR data.  They can also establish privacy and security
    preferences as well as health directives.  The ground floor demonstrates
    secure messaging with health systems and activates the initial PHR.  Using
    a transporter to move upstairs, patients use home health devices to take
    weight, blood pressure and blood sugar readings in the privacy of a
    bedroom, further incorporating this information into the PHR, which is
    shown on presentation screens.
--  The Laboratory: This stop offers laboratory and radiology suites to
    help avatars extend their understanding of the benefits of HIE.  Here,
    patients can check in at a Patient Kiosk and have blood work and radiology
    tests performed. The use of EHRs -- revealing only appropriate portions of
    the PHRs -- shows how consumers can also benefit through cost and time
    savings.
--  The Clinic: Patient avatars transport or walk from the Lab to the
    Clinic, where a welcome from their primary-care physician awaits.  A
    combination of scripting and information screens supports simulation of a
    patient exam, after which an electronic prescription is generated, and the
    continued development of the EHR is explained on nearby screens.

-- The Pharmacy: Here, avatars can check in at a Patient Kiosk that
    simulates the verifying of drug information.  They then receive their
    prescriptions and update their PHRs/EHRs with new medication data.  The HIE
    architecture demonstrates how use of PHR/EHR technology can prevent
    consumers from purchasing medications that are contra-indicated given the
    medicines they presently require, as well as alerting them about potential
    drug-to-drug interactions.  The PHR/EHR is again updated.
--  The Hospital: In this futuristic, three story structure, avatars
    arrive for a scheduled visit with a specialist.  Physicians' offices,
    patient rooms and exam rooms are all simulated here.
--  The Emergency Room: Avatars can chose to experience a virtual
    emergency by "touching" a specially scripted control.  This engages a
    medical episode and a ride on a fast gurney directly into the private and
    secure emergency treatment area, where a special screen is programmed to
    reveal the full incorporation of the PHR to ensure proper treatment.

   

Comments

[Tony Shapps]

As editor of AV CONCEPTS (now with 7000 weekly readers) I am always on the lookout for Virtual Reality news and information; please feel free to contact me. Tony Tony Shapps Editor:'A-V CONCEPTS' Now with over 7000 readers weekly. Subscribe to 'AV CONCEPTS' by sending a BLANK mailto:tony@shapps.myzen.co.uk or visit me at: http://tonyshapps-av-concepts.blogspot.com

[Lionel Oliva]

What will IBM think of next? I hope their inaccurately perceived image as a slumbering, unresponsive giant is dispelled for good by now.

[ehr implementation]

Congratulations IBM members for the great achievement... keep it up!!!