Second Life- Hospital Sim with live EMR/CIS software

Here’s a screen shot of Knoh Oh at the Ann Myers Medical Center’s Admission Desk checking out the day’s schedule. To the right of Knoh is an Electronic Medical Record and Clinical Information System application being accessed from within the Second Life client.

It’s more of a proof of concept than anything else, but it does work, and I think would help enhance medical simulations. I could also see it as a great way to train people on how to use the software. One could have several people accessing the same EMR/CIS system in various areas of the hospital sim and run patient’s around.

I hijacked the SL client’s help window, and through it logged into an open source medical software demo. (Technical details at end.)

One of the great advantages to open source is that you really can get the code for free/cheap. Further, since there are no proprietary secrets, there is no reason to hide the software, so the software is easy to try. There are several open source medical software vendors, a few have on-line demo sites, some even have live CD’s one can easily boot up on one’s own PC’s. Wikipedia has a nice list of Free and Open Source Medical Software. One can set up the software and allow others to access it without worrying about licenses.

What I did not do, was create an actual object in SL. No other avatar can look over Knoh’s shoulder and see the screen. It is like a HUD- part of my client. However, other people can log into the same EMR/CIS and use the system as I am. You would get the same result by running the EMR/CIS in a separate browser…just not as cool screenshots 😉

This particular picture features the ClearHealth software running from their demo site. I cannot vouch for their software, but it seems to be of the right weight, covers a multitude of tasks, and works well in the window. Big thanks to ClearHealth for providing an online demo! (I have not spoken to them about it yet.)

Clear</a>Health and Patient Data

How did I do this? A bit of background for some, but the in-world help screen can be used as a web browser (recent Windows SL client, YMMV.) In the SL client go to the toolbar’s drop down “Help” then “In-World Help”. Paste in a URL into the help’s search window and hit return.

PLEASE DO NOT ABUSE THE DEMOS. These companies pay for their bandwidth and need to maintain their severs. If you really want to utilize a particular vendor’s service, contact them. They will most likely be happy to help you out.

THX to ClearHealth and Ann Myers Medical Center who had no idea what I was up to, but are hopefully cool with it.

About John

Interested in how information intersects daily life, technology, and art. Digital Marketing - marketing ROI in healthcare Collaboration - working in social and collaborative media. Biomedical Informaticist - focusing on patient/patient, patient/provider communication.
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5 Responses to Second Life- Hospital Sim with live EMR/CIS software

  1. Ann says:

    Outstanding! I, of course, need to delve into how this all was accomplished, but the concept is more then plausible! I hope to speak with you soon about this.

    No, AMMC does not mind you using the facility for such experimentation! We have always tried to be an open facility developed for use by anyone interested in medical education.
    Ann

  2. John says:

    Thanks Ann!
    It’s great that you keep your sim open and not behind a locked door.
    What I did is not rocket science, but I’d be happy to help folks set something like this up. I’ve also posted to a FOSS Medical list so that community knows what’s up.

  3. John says:

    Bertalan Meskó was nice enough to feature an interview with me about this project over at scienceroll-

    http://scienceroll.com/2008/03/08/electronic-medical-records-in-a-virtual-hospital-interview/

  4. Pingback: Historia Clínica Electrónica en Second Life | HospitalDigital.com

  5. Vera Zhaoying says:

    Ha John
    I like to discuss an alternative for the system you used with you.
    I will contact you, about the note you left in the mailbox a.s.a.p.

    greetings Vera
    (AMMC intern)

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