As of right now, you can use an Xbox 360 to play games, watch movies, listen to music and communicate with people. In the future, however, Microsoft would like you to also use it for health care.
The R&D guys at Microsoft Research are hard at work finding ways for new uses for the Xbox 360, and some are currently focused on getting the 360 into hospital rooms. One potential application is to combine the 360's relatively low cost and dedicated performance to "feed information from electronic medical records onto in-room display screens for patients".
Upcoming camera/motion sensing peripheral Project Natal is also being looked at, a possible use for the device being a means of filtering patient information: being able to differentiate between individuals, Natal could adjust the amount of patient detail being displayed depending on whether a doctor or family member was in the room.
Natal could also, through it's controller-free input, be used as a way to not only allow sick and injured hospital patients to play video games without the need to hold or manipulate a device, but also give them easy access to hospital services and even - in a first for the Xbox 360 - internet browsing (though we'd imagine if this ever came to be they'd be custom pieces of hardware, not off-the-shelf consoles).

Microsoft E-health Research Taps Xbox, Mobile Phones [PC World]


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