ISU Bengal

Issue date: 11/14/07 Section: News

Training health care professionals and emergency responders on how to handle sudden large-scale catastrophes such as natural disasters, bioterrorism attacks, and outbreaks of infectious diseases has recently taken on a new life.

For the past two years, as part of the Idaho Bio-terrorism Awareness and Preparedness Program (IBAPP), Dr. Ramesh Ramloll, assistant professor at the ISU Institute of Rural Health, has created "Play2Train". It is a virtual world that he designed specifically to meet the distinctive training needs of the professionals who will be on the scene in the event of any large-scale disaster.

"Play2Train" operates on the "Second Life" platform and is strictly an invite only virtual world. Ramloll said that "Play2Train" is a private virtual space accessible by only people invited to train and is under control of the owners of the Web site. He also said that one of the many benefits "Play2Train" and other distant learning applications that utilize simulations can offer is training that can be delivered to people at the point of need wherever they are. Also, the game-like quality of the virtual simulation environment makes learning happen more easily.

In the virtual world of "Play2Train", any emergency scenario can be simulated. There can be a sudden outbreak of small pox, a massive fire can engulf a town, or a hostage situation can ensue. If any one of these situations should develop in the virtual

training world, the participants have virtual hands-on training on how to deal with them.

Unlike sitting in a classroom where an instructor may address a limited number of students and discuss the appropriate method of actions, a large number of participants can take part in a realistic disaster training session with "Play2Train".

Once a participant logs on to the virtual world, they are sent to a uniform store where they can choose from a variety of uniforms depending upon what role they intend to "play" in the scenario. The avatars - the graphic representations of each participant in the virtual world - possess realistic life-like qualities. Their faces display emotion and their movements are smooth and humanistic. The environments as well are designed to be representative of actual towns with streets, cafés, buildings and trees.

According to Ramloll, if a small pox scenario were initiated, there could be participants playing victims of the disease, medical personnel, emergency responders and by-standers. The scenario would be characteristic of an authentic outbreak and the players would respond as if there had actually been an outbreak. This is where the training begins.

"For this type of training in the actual world, the town would need to come to a complete stop," Ramloll said.

The virtual environment hosts a fully equipped hospital, surgery room and other items and facilities found in the real world. It also contains a mobile medical facility comparable to what might be encountered in a real life large-scale catastrophe.

Everything is experienced in 3-D and communication between participants is accomplished via headsets.

"Training in virtual environments will become common within five years," Ramloll said. "It's been going on at ISU for two years and can expand to other departments."

Ramloll said that due to the success of their work with "Play2Train" and "Second Life" they are now getting requests to construct an entire virtual university.

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