No-Smoker Network

introduces a special issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research that broadens the evidence base and provides illustrations of how new technologies can support health promotion and population health overall, empowering change and ushering in a new era of public eHealth.

A significant proportion of this decline (40%) is not due to breakthroughs in molecular medicine, gene therapy, or other highly technical treatments, but to a behavioral intervention: smoking cessation

Tobacco was responsible for more than 100 million deaths worldwide in the 20th century and is forecast to kill at least one billion more in the century to come. More troubling perhaps is that 80% of such deaths are projected to occur in the developing world [2], where tobacco companies have focused their marketing efforts

six strategies

World Health Organization identified

that are essential to reducing the burden of tobacco worldwide

Framework Convention on Tobacco Control

the world’s first global public health treaty

how strategies like these can be carried out in practice and identifying the methods that are effective, transnational in scope, efficient in their use of scarce resources, and accessible to those that need them.

Technologies such as interactive websites, wireless phones, and handheld computers have shown promise as tools to support smoking prevention and cessation

health policy development [14] and knowledge translation for health promotion

The Web part of WATI refers not only to interventions that are accessible from a desktop and the World Wide Web, but also to other networked technologies such as wireless phones or hybrid mobile devices such as the iPhone, Blackberry or other ‘smart phone’ handsets.

The rise of new tools that blend photography, video, text, and voice and move information from stationary computers to mobile technologies have enabled countries that had no access to remote resources to leapfrog forward in the telecommunications evolution

Social networks like Facebook and MySpace, or media sharing sites like YouTube and Flickr are creating new conversations about how to use information technology to help people quit smoking, prevent others from starting, and influencing policy makers on a variety of health issues

The rise of ‘Web 2.0’ technologies

Interventions addressing these risk factors - in particular those addressing obesity, which is approaching a similar state as tobacco in its threat to population health, have a vast impact on cancer and chronic conditions like diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.

advance tobacco control through information technology

Siemens’ Connectivism Theory

accelerating momentum

there are some fundamental questions which remain unanswered.

it is beneficial to address while the race to adopt and implement highly engaging Web 3-D virtual worlds is watched in healthcare professional education

Therefore, Roger’s Diffusion of Innovations Theory [5] and Siemens’ Connectivism Theory [6] for today’s learners will serve as theoretical frameworks for this paper.

A 3-D virtual world, also known as a Massively Multiplayer Virtual World (MMVW), is an example of a Web 2.0/Web 3-D dynamic computer-based application.

applications that enable social publishing, such as blogs and wikis

the most popular virtual world used by the general public is Linden Lab’s Second Life (SL)

health information island

US agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health conduct meetings in SL to discuss the educational potential of SL

virtual medical universities exist all over the world

The term “avatar” is an old Sanskrit word portraying a deity which takes on a human shape

Trauma Center

Virtual worlds are currently being used as educational spaces [1] and continue to grow in popularity on campuses and businesses worldwide. Furthermore, access to versions of virtual worlds on the Web, such as “Croquet,” “Uni-Verse,” and “Multiverse” are predicted within two to three years to be mainstream in education

there are reported advantages to having students engage in these emerging technologies

By allowing students time to interact with other avatars (eg, patients, staff members, and other healthcare professionals) in a safe, simulated environment, a decrease in student anxiety, an increase in competency in learning a new skill, and encouragement to cooperate and collaborate, as well as resolve conflicts, is possible.

High quality 3-D entertainment that is freely accessible via Web browsing facilitates engagement opportunities with individuals or groups of people in an authentic manner that illustrates collective intelligence

Advanced Learning and Immersive Virtual Environment (ALIVE) at the University of Southern Queensland

Who would imagine attending medical school in a virtual world?

Problem-based learning groups enrolled in a clinical management course at Coventry University meet in SL and are employed to build learning facilities for the next semester of SL students. This management course teaches students to manage healthcare facilities and is reported to be the first healthcare-related class to use SL as a learning environment.

Another example of a medical school using SL is St. George’s Medical School in London.

Stanford University medical school

Another virtual world project developed by staff at the Imperial College in London, in collaboration with the National Physical Lab in the United Kingdom, is the Second Health Project

Mesko [35] presents the top 10 virtual medical sites in SL.

The development and use of 3-D virtual worlds in nursing education is increasing.

Some educators may balk at adopting this technology because there is a learning curve associated with the use of 3-D virtual worlds.

Let’s have fun, explore these fascinating worlds and games, and network with others while respecting diverse ways of life-long learning and current researchers’ findings.

there is an underlying push in higher education to adopt these collaborative tools and shift the paradigm from a traditional Socratic method of education to one possessing a more active and interactive nature

One may view online virtual worlds and serious gaming as a threat to the adoption and purchase of high-fidelity computerized patient-simulation mannequins that are currently purchased for healthcare-profession training. For example, nurses may login into SL and learn Advanced Cardiac Life Support at their convenience, and it costs virtually nothing for the nurse and perhaps a nominal fee for the developer.

The educational opportunity in SL may not be a replacement for the doctor- or nurse-patient interaction or relationship, but SL may serve as an adjunct or pre- or post-learning tool.

one recalls when critics questioned the validity and reliability of the stethoscope invented by Laennec in 1816 and how today it is second nature to use this assessment tool.

2006 health fair