"The popular online game 'World of Warcraft' (or WoW, as it is commonly known) presents an opportunity for <insert hospital name here> to research the potential of video games to act as a social gateway to patients who would otherwise be confined to the hospital grounds or even in the room with limited social interaction with hospital staff. The ability to interact with other people and have a task at hand to occupy their minds away from their physical hardships could lead to a marked improvement in patient happiness and quality of life, which has been linked to increased recovery times.
It would also allow for the potential for distant relatives to stay in touch with their ill family members in an entertainment venue so that the patients and their families can feel together and temporarily forget about the gravity of being hospitalized while keeping the interruptions to the hospital staff to a minimum. Similar results have already been shown to be possible with divorced parents and their children, so it begs the question on whether such a thing would be beneficial to improving the life of those in our care.
Of course, such a program must be conducted carefully, so it would fall the IT group to study the impact such a move would have on our network (which of course must remain devoted to medical needs first), as well as further research into the social networking access and potential ramifications of such interactions.
While World of Warcraft is currently the largest of such titles available, we should also leave open the possibility of adding other similar approaches and have the staff ready to investigate those new opportunities as the situation warrants."
There ya go.
