In Parts
COVER STORY/TECHNOLOGY
Working in Wiki: The Sky’s No Limit
Third of five parts: 1 2 3 4 5 Single Page
A California hospital taps Second Life for a fly-by tour of its building plan.
Hello and welcome to the hospital of the future." That's the simple greeting a stylish avatar in thick, black-rimmed glasses and a chunky up-do offers at the beginning of a virtual tour of a facility. It may be a Second Life simulation — and visitors may be able to fly through the air or high-jump over corridors during their virtual visit — but it's a tour of a real hospital that's under construction and set to open in San Diego County in 2011. Here's something else that's real: The brick-and-mortar building is being built by Palomar Pomerado Health, California's largest public health district, and is being funded by the largest health care-related bond package in California's history.
Opening a virtual model within Second Life is a cutting-edge way to give the public a look at what $850 million will buy. But more important, hospital personnel who will work there have a chance to visit the space and figure out how it will work for them. Second Life provides a relatively easy and inexpensive way for employees to think through questions about workflow, equipment placement and other work-related elements.
While Palomar Pomerado Health is an early adopter of this virtual-reality technology as a management tool, the exercise may provide a glimpse of what's to come for state and local governments. One possibility is the way the tool enables innovation. "Organizations that want to transform themselves," says Orlando Portale, the chief innovation officer for Palomar Pomerado, "can use Second Life to visualize these new concepts."
Some of the cutting-edge medical technology the hospital may incorporate into the facility is on view for test runs. "They've thrown out all of the hospital designs of the past," says Mike Haymaker, who works for Cisco, the company that's partnering with Palomar Pomerado to produce the hospital's technology. "They're looking at IT and medical technology as a forethought, not as an afterthought."
Here's how it works: When visitors arrive at the site, the avatar who acts as hostess flashes on a screen in a driveway filled with swaying greenery. A voice-over gives an overview of the hospital's features. Meanwhile, high-definition images of the campus flash across the screen.
After a few instructions, the virtual visitor walks — or flies — to the entrance of the hospital, where, if the visitor is entering as a patient, he is given an RFID bracelet and informed that he will be having his gallbladder removed today. He then moves through the hospital and follows instructions for where to go and who to see in which room.
The exercise is a test run for RFID bracelets. In the real Palomar West, the plan is to use them to guide patients through the hospital. The patient would walk up to a blank screen and hear it say, "Hello, Mr. X, please turn left and follow the hall to room 328, where Dr. Y will prep you for your procedure."
There are other new technologies being explored. Doctors interact with patients through computer screens in their rooms. Advanced robotics simplify surgery. Meanwhile, the setting and decor are luxurious and comforting. "The first thing you notice," Portale says, "is that it really doesn't look like a traditional hospital — it looks like a five-star hotel." The patient rooms, however, are "acuity-adaptable." That is, they are designed so that patients don't have to move when their condition changes. Instead of transferring a patient to intensive care, for instance, the hospital will be able to transform a patient's room into an intensive care unit.
The new building plan also does away with nursing stations. Nurses are distributed more evenly throughout the hospital so that they can be closer to patients' rooms.
Palomar Pomerado Health hopes to use the virtual hospital to gain a competitive advantage in the fierce fight for qualified nurses. In a very tight market for nurses, the new hospital has the ability to demonstrate its features to nurses around the country and get them excited and comfortable about the prospect of working in a state-of-the-art environment.
The hospital plans to use its Second Life model as a virtual career fair not just for nurses but also for others seeking employment. They can enter the site as an avatar, tour the facility and gather to ask questions of hospital representatives. "They'll be able to see all of the technologies that are going to make their lives a whole lot better," Portale says. "Everything that we're designing is to reduce stress on the patients and also the staff."
The virtual hospital is already taking on a life of its own. A few weeks ago, Portale stumbled upon a Second Life meeting of avatars in his virtual hospital. It was a group of Duke University nursing students' avatars. They had gathered there for a class discussion about the virtual-life experience.
A virtual model — as opposed to the cardboard mock-up or architectural drawings most new projects provide — is not without costs. Purchasing the space on Second Life cost the public health district a modest $1,695, but design costs tacked on an additional $135,000.
There's also the issue of user error. To avoid problems, virtual Palomar West made a couple of smart choices at the outset. First, it put up a YouTube video of the hospital that provides an easy way to see the hospital without logging in to Second Life — so those who don't want to try it can still get a feel for the new hospital. The video already has been viewed 3,500 times. Second, the virtual hospital was designed with easy access for non-Second Life regulars in mind. The Web site, virtualpalomarwest.org, allows a visitor to download Second Life and be transported directly to the hospital. Then, basic navigational instructions are provided to launch visitors. While the initial experience can be frustrating, Generation Y has been taking to it quickly. "They just get into the hospital and start flying around," Portale says, "even if they've never used Second Life before."
Third of five parts: 1 2 3 4 5 Single Page