Friday, October 28, 2011

Physician-Patient Relationships in Second Life

Welcome to Second Life. Second Life is an online virtual world that allows users to interact with each other through avatars. These avatars can explore the world, participate in activities, purchase virtual real estate, shop and much more. In 2011, there are about 1 million active users of Second Life. There are a variety of uses for Second Life, so how can Second Life accommodate the physician-patient relationship?
I believe that one of the foremost uses of Second Life in a physician-patient relationship is that of providing education and/or information in an interactive environment, in real life time without waiting for a response via email, a returned phone call or an office visit. The advantage to second life relationships is that emotions can be curtailed if this is something that the patient wishes to conceal. There are no biases or judgment involved based on appearances, personalities or hesitation on the part of the patient due to embarrassment. There is a ‘safe” environment for disclosure where the patient can maintain anonymity if so desired.

Another advantageous use of Second Life is for education. An instructor can create a presentation that is very life like and can be created once and used over and over. I found the hallucination presentation in Second Life offered a very real, empathetic understanding of a disease that I would not have been able to understand on the same level as I have after the Second Life experience.

The downside is that setting up an account, creating an Avatar and learning to maneuver in Second Life takes time and practice and is not for everyone. I see younger generations taking to this and those of us who are “techies”. I also see this as beneficial for distance education or communication. At this point, I believe there is a small portion of the population that would use this media to communicate with their physician, and I believe even fewer physicians who would take the time to learn, create and take advantage of what Second Life could offer. I do appreciate the opportunity to complete a course or obtain a degree online and I certainly look forward to reviewing my test results online and communicating with my healthcare provider via email. I just feel that second life might take a little longer to catch on. I also feel that you need to have had physical connection with the provider first so that you know to whom you are really trusting your healthcare to. I think telemedicine might catch on must quicker.

Of course I am very new to Second Life and have had limited experience as an avatar so my opinion is limited as well. I would have liked to have been introduced to Second Life and this subject while working on my Masters. I think I would have liked to complete my thesis around the topic of Second Life and physician-patient relationships. 



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