Nursing students at Tacoma Community College in Washington are using a 3-D online virtual reality network to practice diagnosing and treating patients in a simulated emergency department environment, the Tacoma News Tribune reports. The college's nursing professors tapped the virtual environment, called Second Life, as a less expensive alternative to mannequin simulators, which typically cost about $70,000 each. Under the program, nursing students develop 3-D avatars that they manipulate to respond to and treat patients using virtual tools such as oxygen hook-ups, medications, defibrillators and IVs. Nursing professor John Miller, meanwhile, manipulates the patient's response and displays the patient's vital signs on the back wall of the virtual operating room. Miller also tracks the nurse avatars' actions using a printable log that he can review with the class after the simulation. The project is funded by a $10,000 grant from the Distance Learning Council of the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, which is shared with nearby Centralia Community College (Santos, Tacoma News Tribune, 11/26/07).
Click here for snapshot of Second Life ER being used by nurse students
A link to John Miller's blog
