When I met Dr. Bernardo in 2004, he was working on a virtual reality simulation program educating surgeons to navigate the convoluted areas of the brain during surgery. Overlapping a 3D layer on top of an actual recorded surgery, he created a step-by-step tutorial by re-performing the surgery with simulated tools. It had to be the one of the most remarkable things I'd ever seen. Now that it's done, the course in skull base surgery is being offered at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City.
This remarkable way of teaching using online and virtual programs has expanded to many other areas. Medical students are now watching short videos on iPods to learn how to perform ultrasounds. Nurses are using an online virtual reality network to learn how to diagnose and treat patients in the ER. Even patients are benefiting from information online. The internet has been cited as contributing factor in the recent decline in cancer rates, primarily due to early diagnosis.
This is how technology and health care are going to combine and grow, through consumer and provider engagement. Hospitals, insurers, employers all have their own incentives to be involved, but none as pure as the patient or physician's desire to improve health directly.