A little sampler video sequence to show our work on connecting “Second Life” avatar-patient-bots with specially written AIML [artificial intelligence markup language] and speech synthesis software.
Hopefully we’ll add speech recognition too This project is being used with Nurse Practitioner students. However it could be used for a number of healthcare professionals. Please feel free to add a comment.
There’s more info below, see the post on Sep 16 2009 “Taking a patient history from a virtual patient”
This was a small scale qualitative evaluation of the lecturers’ (researchers’) and students’ experience of using Second Life in order to learn decision-making. Students assumed Avatars (a student nurse image in Second Life) and accessed the Clinical Simulation Laboratory within Second Life following changing into nursing uniform. They then worked through a scenario based activity. Over a six week period each student carried out a communication and visual assessment of six patients in one ward based area (one session for each student). At the end of the session the student was asked to prioritise the care for these patients and explain their decisions. The students then recorded their experiences during a one-to-one semi-structured interview and focus group.
The research team acted as the students’ mentors via their individual Avatars and provided feedback and guidance to the student Avatar.
A pragmatic approach was taken that included elements of:
• Case based learning: six realistic, interactive scenarios were developed at the appropriate level for the students
• Discovery learning: students interacted with others within the clinical simulation environment providing opportunities for incidental learning
• Reflective Learning: students used interview to record activities and reflect on their relevance to nursing theory and practice
This is Colin. He is a virtual patient Bot who can talk. He is used to help qualified nurses to take a diagnostic patient history. He also has embedded heart sounds in his chest. The students can click on his chest in the correct anatomical position to hear the heart sounds which link back to the history they have just taken. Keep your eyes peeled for a video demo of Colin Soon!
Regards Kali Pizzaro aka real Life Evelyn McElhinney Lecturer, Andy Whiteford Technician aka AndyW Blackburn
Welcome to Glasgow Caledonian SOH – Virtual Worlds blog. This blog will be used to share the experiences and projects the School of Health are undertaking in Second Life and other virtual worlds.
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This project is being used with Nurse Practitioner students. However it could be used for a number of healthcare professionals. Please feel free to add a comment. 
