The August issue is all about healthcare. I hope it helps folks realize the opportunities virtual worlds can afford.
Oh, and my article “The Growth and Direction of Healthcare Support Groups in Virtual Worlds” is included.
Much thanks to the editors and reviewers for working with me and getting the information out there.
CorvallisHealth has been a 3 year long experiment in using micro-blogging to help keep a local community healthy. As of July 17, 2012, I am suspending tweeting from this account as I am now employed by a health organization. Until I have a chance to explore possible conflicts of interest, I am hesitant to posts tweets.
CorvallisHealth chirps out tweets you can use for healthier living in Corvallis, Oregon.
Throughout the week I will be tweeting 140 characters of locally focused, health information. I’ll keep the tweets down to at the most, one message a day, not force you to go to a webpage, and keep it organized to help you plan your time.
CorvallisHealth is also a bit of an experiment. I am a biomedical informaticist, which is someone studying heathcare and information. As part of my research, and career path, I have been looking into tools such as Twitter to help convey healthcare information. I want to see what I can do even without being professionally associated with a local healthcare organization. (You can find my more corporate related medical tweetings at john-norris as well as other healthcare related work on the rest of this website.) So, in exchange for what I think is some helpful information, you may find some things changing as I try out new ideas.
As this experiment includes you, I thought it would be helpful about who I am and what I am doing. This might also help folks send me constructive comments.
I’ve placed a link on my resume to my Twitter feed.
I had been exploring Twitter in general, but it has now become a major microblogging tool for me. I am publishing ideas on how healthcare orgs can use Twitter to help members of their local community and themselves.
Updated the 2002 to present area as well.
While looking up the efficacy of online support groups, I found this rather timely information. It concerns what people wanted from their hospital during the SARS outbreak. (The bold is my emphasis)
Their most frequent suggestion was the ability to communicate with
family members, as visits were restricted. Others wanted to use the
Internet to access their electronic health record, participate in
virtual support groups, replace certain follow-up visits with
online consultations, and find information on drug compatibility or
clinical trials.
“What Internet Services Would Patients Like From Hospitals During an
Epidemic? Lessons From the SARS Outbreak in Toronto”
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1550678
I know there are some efforts starting up within Second Life to help share information. It looks like it may be a good venue for a wider variety of activities.
This report also shows that hospitals should be an online partner as well.
I’ve been taking peer support courses through the Guiding Lights in Second Life. It’s been very interesting, with some great speakers, and a super group to work with.
To help with this sort of training, I am developing a simulated discussion group consisting of 4 fake avatars.
It has two modes. One can run automated dialogs that demonstrate various issues and techniques that may happen during a meeting. This dialog can be stopped and continued. Further, the dialog can pause itself to allow one to type in their own responses. The other mode lets the various fake avatars puppet what someone else chats. Thus, a trainer can control what each of the fake avatars say. (One can combine both modes as well.)
I currently have 2 automated dialogs concerning healthcare support groups available. The first is a general chat, demonstrating possible issues, and techniques. The second addresses issues of tolerance and includes pauses for the trainee to come up with their own responses.
It would be easier to merely have a notecard, or web page, with the dialog all written out, but it wouldn’t capture the timing of events in a group, nor, possibly, the surprise.
It would be easier not to have the fake avatars, but it brings the experience closer to being a discussion group. Actually sitting down, surrounded by avatars, helps make the training more real, and a better learning experience.
The simulator is in beta currently, but send me an email and I’ll get a copy to you. I’m releasing it under a creative commons license with full permissions, so please feel free to change it around.
I think it will be useful to those training to lead group discussions in any setting.
#Update April 18, 2009. My apologies, but earlier versions of the Group Simulator I gave out may not have all the permissions set up properly. I intended to give it away with full permissions to the new owner. If you did a fixed copy, please let me know.
