Paramedic students at St George’s Hospital, University of London and Kingston University are honing their skills in the virtual safety of Second Life.

The students are asked to treat virtual patients using simulated medical equipment, and decide whether to send the poorly avatars off to Make Believe Hospital.

According to course tutors, the virtual environment improves experience of dealing with incidents, without putting the students or patients in danger.

Some virtual paramedics, yesterday

Questions must be asked:

• What do you do if your patient presents with mild nausea, double vision and a lesion to their hind wings?

• Will the medics get into bad habits, like teleporting away if the patient becomes abusive? That’s not going to work on the streets of Dalston.

• Will they be on hand to help with common Second Life afflictions, such as getting stuck in walls and falling off the planet?

• Can they help me with this problem?

From my Flickrstream