The rapidly shifting role of patients within the care model has resulted in demand for easier access to healthcare professionals. Innovations in social media and collaborative technologies provide healthcare organizations with the ability to disperse information quickly and appeal to individuals who are seeking cost-effective healthcare services, especially in remote or rural communities. There are plenty of opportunities to learn more about this topic at the Connected Health Symposium with events like, “Improving Patient Engagement and Medication Adherence Through Health System Innovation” and “The Age of Compassionate Computing.”
One innovation in collaborative technologies was featured in AARP magazine the other day (yes, I qualify) in an article titled “Medical Treatment in a Virtual World.” It was a fascinating article about an experimental program to advise patients in Second Life, a website where doctors and patients appear as avatars, 3-D representations that communicate with each other. The big news is that developers say it is the first time a virtual world application has been aimed to actually deliver health care. The goal of this use of the application is not to help people with acute problems, like an asthma attack, but about treating non-life-threatening chronic conditions that make up a large part of healthcare costs such as diabetes and arthritis.
In Second Life, patients create avatars before visiting the virtual treatment center which is open only by invitation. People interact both individually and in groups with a doctor. Through group sessions, people can anonymously learn from experiences, comments and questions of other patients according to Reza Shaker, M.D., gastroenterologist and professor at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. This approach could be very successful because my experience is that people enjoy this type of anonymity of group sessions for learning and that this approach of using avatars could encourage participation in chronic care management. Using an avatar could help people be more honest about their current situation including glucose readings, compliance with treatment plans or pain assessments.
Another place that avatars are popular is on the Nintendo Wii gaming platform and they are called a Mii. When the Wii Fit platform evaluates your weight, BMI and level of physical fitness for your Mii then it adjusts your appearance to match your demographics. It is interesting that you don’t feel as offended if the application makes you look overweight but instead feel motivated to make your avatar look “normal.” Is it possible that the avatar is the key to dropping our normal human facade that prevents honest communication with medical professionals? What are your thoughts? Is the idea that it is easier to assess your situation honestly as an avatar?
Avatars and the Real World of Health IT
As we consider methods for chronic care management, especially outreach to individuals in isolated or remote environments, it seems logical that we would tap the Internet to connect and collaborate. The next step might logically be to integrate personal health information including remote device readings (glucose meters, blood pressure cuffs) to their avatar to provide the feedback loop for better medical advice and monitoring. Another idea would be to use avatars for educating people on their medical conditions and how to avoid complications.
The potential for a virtual medical clinic has great value for non-life-threatening conditions in remote or rural medicine as well. Tracking pain levels or wellness after medical treatments could be more personal and immediate through this novel approach. Do you think people would respond well to this approach? Is it the next big idea for innovation in healthcare?
