There's a clear upsurge of interest in Second Life and virtual worlds from the medical profession, from hospitals to healthcare charities. The latest to get involved is Cigna, which is launching a pilot virtual health project within Second Life.
Initially, it’ll provide virtual seminars, interactive displays and educational games to encourage visitors to get more healthy - preventative care, in other words. The pilot is targeting users in the US and UK, and apparently has scope to expand to one-on-one virtual health consultations in the future.
Cigna is working with branding agency Method on the project, although it hasn’t yet decided how it will be offered to the company’s existing patients/customers. The big benefit of virtual healthcare is the element of confidentiality and anonymity, allowing patients to discuss ailments or subjects they might not be comfortable discussing face-to-face with a doctor in the real world.
The interactive capabilities of virtual worlds also enable richer, more interesting forms of information, rather than the slightly fusty leaflets that have traditionally acted as the main communication between healthcare professionals and their patients.
0 comments