News
IBM opens virtual healthcare island in Second Life
25 February 2008
IBM has unveiled its Virtual Healthcare Island in the online virtual
world of Second Life. The island is a representation of IBM's view of
the challenges facing today’s healthcare industry and the role
information technology will play in transforming global
healthcare-delivery to meet patient needs. It was launched at the HIMSS
2008 conference in Orlando, Florida.
The island supports the strategic healthcare vision that IBM released
in October 2006, entitled, Healthcare 2015: Win-Win or Lose-Lose, A
Portrait and a Path to Successful Transformation. The paper paints a
picture of a healthcare industry in crisis — of healthcare systems in
the United States and many other countries that will become
unsustainable by the year 2015.
To avoid 'lose-lose' scenarios in which global healthcare systems
'hit the wall' and require immediate and forced restructuring, IBM calls
for what it defines as a 'win-win' option: new levels of accountability,
tough decisions, hard work and focus on the consumer.
The IBM Virtual Healthcare Island provides online visitors with an
interactive demonstration of IBM’s open-standards-based Health
Information Exchange (HIE) architecture. Working with project leads in
the US, the island was designed and built by an all-IBM-India team.
Starting from the patient’s home, they create their own Personal
Health Records (PHRs) in a secure and private environment and watch as
they are incorporated into an array of electronic medical record (EMR)
systems that can be used at various medical facilities. As visitors move
from one island station to the next, they experience how the development
of a totally integrated and interoperable longitudinal electronic health
record (EHR) is used within a highly secured network that allows access
only by patient, authorized providers and family members.
Patient avatars arrive and are welcomed at the Central Park and then
visit a Central Information Hub, where IBM’s view of the healthcare
industry and the power of information technology to transform it are
presented. An amphitheater on the Hub’s second floor provides an area
that can support virtual meetings, complete with a large video screen
and accompanying slide presentation on IBM’s HIE architecture and the
positive impact that this technology can have in the transformation of
the Healthcare Industry.
Visitors can then walk, fly or use transporters to visit the various
island stations:
- The patient’s home: In the secure environment of a
private home, patient avatars can initiate a PHR and populate it
with their personal health characteristics and clinical history,
accessed and downloaded from physician EMR data. They can also
establish privacy and security preferences as well as health
directives.
The ground floor demonstrates secure messaging with providers and
activates the initial PHR. Using a transporter to move upstairs,
patients use home health devices to take weight, blood pressure and
blood sugar readings in the privacy of a bedroom, further
incorporating this information into the PHR, which is shown on
presentation screens.
- The laboratory: This stop offers laboratory and radiology
suites to help avatars extend their understanding of the benefits of
HIE. Here, patients can check in at a patient kiosk and have blood
work and radiology tests performed. The use of EHRs — revealing only
appropriate portions of the PHRs — shows how consumers can also
benefit through cost and time savings.
- The clinic: Patient avatars transport or walk from the
lab to the clinic, where a welcome from their primary-care physician
awaits. A combination of scripting and information screens supports
simulation of a patient exam, after which an electronic prescription
is generated, and the continued development of the EHR is explained
on nearby screens.
- The pharmacy: Here, avatars can check in at a patient
kiosk that simulates the verifying of drug information. They then
receive their prescriptions and update their PHRs/EHRs with new
medication data.
The HIE architecture demonstrates how use of PHR/EHR technology can
prevent consumers from purchasing medications that are
contra-indicated given the medicines they presently require, as well
as alerting them about potential drug-to-drug interactions. The PHR/EHR
is again updated.
- The hospital: In this futuristic, three story structure,
avatars arrive for a scheduled visit with a specialist. Physicians’
offices, patient rooms and exam rooms are all simulated here.
- The emergency room: Avatars can chose to experience a
virtual emergency by 'touching' a specially scripted control. This
engages a medical episode and a ride on a fast gurney directly into
the private and secure emergency treatment area, where a special
screen is programmed to reveal the full incorporation of the PHR to
ensure proper treatment.
“We are pleased to offer our IBM Virtual Health Island as a tool for
our healthcare customers and our worldwide sales force. The island
allows each healthcare stakeholder to envision how the total system can
be affected by intercession at each juncture of the healthcare delivery
process,” said Dan Pelino, General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare & Life
Sciences Industry.
“We believe that the use of our new virtual world provides an
important, next-generation Internet-based resource to show how
standards; business planning; the use of a secured, extensible and
expandable architecture; HIE interoperability; and data use for
healthcare analytics, quality, wellness and disease management are all
helping to transform our industry. “
IBM’s Healthcare & Life Sciences (HCLS) Industry will continue to
develop the new island in months to come. The island can perform as a
virtually 'always on' demonstration tool for IBM’s sales personnel. A
video version of the island is also under production.
Last October, IBM and Linden Lab, the makers of Second Life, announced
their intent to jointly develop new technologies and methodologies based
on open standards that will help advance the future of 3D virtual
worlds.
|
