Medical Education, Librarians and Second Life

I recently listened to a facinating interview with Dr. Lawrence G. Miller, Director of Continuing Medical Education at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine . Dr. Miller (no relation) is called Lorenzo Stork in Second Life. Lorenzo is coordinating a medical education pilot in Second Life. This pilot will pair the skills of real-life medical librarians and physicians.


Lorenzo is working with medical librarians in Illinois who are interested in working in Second Life. In December they will conduct this pilot. I understand from the interview that practicing physicians need x # of hours of continuing education per year. This pilot project will experiment with hosting a continuing education session in Second Life.

The topic they will cover will be Hypertension in Diabetes patients. Lorenzo mentions in the interview he may use powerpoint (in Second Life), then do some interactive activity in Second Life. One interactive activity might be for the physicians to interview a virtual patient to asking the patient questions in the same way the physician might do in a real life situation.

The exciting part for me as a librarian come at this point. After the physicians has interviewed the patient, they will work with the medical librarians who will help them find the best resources using EBM techniques.

The plan is to restrict the pilot to 15-20 physicians. Lorenzo says he is hoping to work with physicians that are already in Second Life so they can avoid having to teach the basic mechanics of operating in this virtual world. I look forward to hearing more about this project!