Virtual Worlds are increasingly seen as tools for improving human performance. Virtual Worlds offer a rich, realistic environment similar to the "real world" with the advantage of providing training anytime, anywhere in many settings, to many users. With multiple providers of virtual worlds, each offering different capabilities, selecting the right platform can be a challenging task but one that is crucial for success. This paper shares the decision factors leading the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)'s Veterans Health Administration's (VHA) Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) to select a virtual world platform to address human performance requirements.

DEMPS volunteers are deployed to care for Veterans during an emergency or disaster and provide interagency support under the National Response Framework. The DEMPS volunteer is a full-time VA employee at one of 153 VA Medical Centers located across the U.S., Puerto Rico, Guam, and Philippines. With over 8,600 geographically dispersed volunteers, providing education and training is a monumental task. Missions vary depending on the disaster type and location. Existing training focused on awareness and administrative functions. An annual live exercise provided the only opportunity for volunteers to be exposed to the tasks performed in an actual disaster.

Selection of the Virtual World was driven by an analysis of human performance requirements. Multiple approaches to gaining insights into the requirements included a review of current training, a gap analysis, media analysis, documented competencies and visioning. Recognizing the need for user acceptance, the team engaged stakeholders and will share insights on that aspect of human performance as well as the analysis used to determine key capabilities.