Virtual Worlds in Healthcare

The merging of immersive technologies with gaming approaches has led to a raft of positive speculation about their future in medical education, in patient interventions, and in public involvement. In terms of delivery, however, the outcomes have been somewhat more muted. This chapter explores using case studies, why immersive virtual environments?so called Serious Virtual Worlds?are now being successfully developed and deployed for professional and wider use in healthcare. Whilst the chapter has a wide focus, specific attention is given to the application of virtual worlds in clinical practice, demonstrating that when combined with patient data models it is possible to deliver real time immersive clinical training experiences in a range of contexts. Finally, it argues that due to their rapid development and deployment cycle and associated low costs, serious virtual worlds, once accepted, will have a substantial impact in healthcare.