Virtual worlds : A new window to healthcare education

Computer-based clinical simulations are powerful teaching tools due to their ability to expand healthcare students' clinical experience by providing practice-based learning. These simulations encourage active participation and can enhance the retention and transfer of learning. Despite the benefits of such clinical simulations there are significant issues which arise when incorporating them into an educational healthcare strategy. For many healthcare educators the key issue becomes; how to apply computer-based simulations in a cooperative and collaborative self-directed environment. Second Life provides healthcare students with an online social presence, enabling a comprehensive environment for online interaction and collaborative practice-based learning. The purpose of this poster is to investigate how the benefits of virtual worlds, such as Second Life, can be employed to overcome the barriers involved in traditional computer-based clinical simulations. This poster presents how a virtual clinical simulation developed within Second Life can be used by healthcare educators to deliver hands-on team-oriented online interactive learning. The virtual clinical simulation provides healthcare students with an experience that simulates the feel of a clinical setting, while removing the costs and challenges of traditional simulations as well as the barriers involved in traditional computer-based simulations. Healthcare educators should consider incorporating interactive virtual worlds into teaching strategies to further enhance clinical simulations. For this practise to be successful, however, further research among healthcare professionals and educators is required to design a model which outlines the key concepts and practical approach to developing an online virtual simulation for healthcare students. © 2008 Luke Rogers