Healthcare education with virtual-world simulations

Becoming a skilled professional requires the acquisition of theoretical knowledge and the practice of skills under the guidance of an expert. The idea of learning-through-apprenticeship is long accepted in medicine and, more generally, in the health sciences, where practicum courses are an essential part of most curricula. Because of the high cost of apprenticeship programs -- mentors can usually supervise few trainees and trainees may need long apprenticeship periods - simulation has long been adopted as a learning-by-doing training method that can supplement apprenticeship in many professional and engineering programs, including the health sciences. In this paper, we describe our experience developing virtual world-based training systems for two healthcare contexts. In one, procedural training was emphasized, while the other focused on teaching communication skills. In each case, we developed a custom set of tools to meet the needs of that context. We present an analysis of the case studies, and lessons drawn from this analysis.