Group items tagged

Why to use Second Life in medicine

A Ning group devoted to sharing experiences of using Second Life in education.

Video from the University of Michigan about a variety of Second Life Health sites

« Daneel Ariantho's laboratory

"Shows a patient simulation in the virtual world of Second Life by MUVErs used in nursing courseswith funding from University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh, Accelerated BSN progam."

"There comes a moment when you're forced to step beyond the things you know. It's a split second--an instant adjustment from the safety of recollection to the insecurity of the unknown. Day after day we head into the library, hunching over twice-reviewed notes and hidden behind piles of books yet to be read. We push ourselves to work harder, study longer. We toil knowing that each page holds a secret that might allay suffering or change a life. But at some point, the physiology and pharmacology don't matter. Organ systems and microbiology give way to something different...something more."

"Collectively, the 22 participant surveyed conveyed an averaged positive feedback score of 84 percent across the aforementioned feedback domains-with a mean score on the modified four-point Likert scale of 3.25."

The University of Saskatchewan sponsors this blog. Recent posts include "Medical Education Uses in Second Life" and "Who Says Medical Education Hasn't Changed?"

"Diagnosis-Independent Alzheimer Disease Biomarker Signature in Cognitively Normal Elderly People"

I heard Trojanowski (the senior author) talk about this last month at the annual meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. It's a very interesting topic with a lot of social ramifications. The statement in the absrract that among people with mild cognitive impairment, the biomarker profile had a 100% sensitivity for development of AD needs to be carefully considered. First, the metric that is of greater interest is the positive predictive value. Second, it is known that some patients who have the classic AD findings at autopsy did not have mental impairment in life. We know this from the Nun study.

Slideshow

The Biomedicine Research Labs Island, which opened in January, 2008, is in fact the digital headquarters of RL organization S.H.R.O. of Philadelphia, PA. According to their press release "S.H.R.O. is committed to excellence in basic genetic research to cure and diagnose cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and other chronic illnesses and to foster the training of young international doctors in a spirit of professionalism and humanism".