Uses of 2nd Life in Dr-Patient Relationships

Use of Second Life (SL) for Doctor - Patient Relationships
In an article “A Survey of Health Sites in SL”, several Second Life uses related to Healthcare are discussed – Education and Awareness, Support, Training, Marketing and Promotion of health services and Research.
There are 34 places or activities in SL for dissemination of health information which include links to web sites, video, slides, search information and interactive experiences such as games and classrooms.
I can see that Second Life is especially useful for psychiatric patients. The demonstration on YouTube regarding virtual hallucinations was very interesting, if a bit disturbing. It expressed to me what it must sound like, and somewhat it feels like to have both auditory and visual hallucinations while walking through a benign environment. It was surreal to hear a voice expressing how worthless the patient is, and that they should kill themselves.
I can see that Second Life will be very useful in Patient-Provider relationships for expressing subjective symptoms such as hallucinations, but I can also see that it will be very useful for patient education. Interactive, graphical and audio presentations can be provided to those with limited reading skills.
The Healthinfo Island location was very interesting – I could spend days there looking at the information in the Consumer Health Library. What a fun way to get information!
I can also see that this would be a good way for me to check in to the Dr’s office for some specific follow-up to see how I was doing on particular learning objectives if I had a self care regimen to follow, or to meet up with other patients for support.
It may be too, that how a person creates their avatar may have some meaningful information for the physician, again, back to the psychological aspects – about body image, and why a person chose a particular avatar. (That is if the person understood how to create one – it isn’t that easy to edit once you’ve selected one). That is too, if the Dr knows who the avatar represents – anonymity is also an advantage in the virtual world.
Anonymity is especially helpful for the patient when asking questions initially about personal health information that might be difficult to talk about in person such as HIV, or perhaps a substance abuse problem.
One downside that I can see is that the patient must have access to a computer with the capabilities to download and run the Second Life software (or similar software), and the patient, or someone must help him/her be able to get it loaded and running. Or, the patient must have access to a computer that can run the software, with enough security (if it is a shared computer) to keep the patient’s login and other information secure.
As time goes on, more and more people will have that computer access, and computers and broadband access will enable use of applications such as Second Life to become more useful to more people.
Do you think that people will use Second Life for Health Care information, or to visit their physician? What are the barriers to use that you can see?