The Academic Medical Center (AMC) of Amsterdam released 2 apps to train and educate medical professionals in playful way to improve the quality of healthcare.
Developer and surgeon Marlies Schijven of AMC explains that Medialis and Dr. Game: Surgeon Trouble are the first games of which the medical information is thoroughly tested. The games have been developed in cooperation with the Dutch game companies Weirder and Little Chicken.
Medialis
The first app is Medialis (Android / iOS), a game that trains quick decision making skills. The game does this by testing the medical professional with a very rapid quiz that contains detailed questions about all kinds of medical situations in which a quick decision is important, like taking out a gallbladder or severe airway problems. “The user has to chose from 4 possible answers. From the quiz, a score follows that can be easily shared with colleagues or the trainer”, states Schijven. “You can challenge someone, keep track of your scores or share your scores through SMS, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook.” The Medialis app costs 3,99 euros and has been developed with gamecompany Little Chicken. “The fun thing is, that everyone can create their own quiz, which makes the app grow spontaneously”, says Schijven. “All the new questions that are applied, are of course checked on medical justness. That way we can control what kind of questions actually enter the game and prevent non-medical subjects or inappropriate information to enter the game.”
Dr. Game: surgeon trouble
The second game is free and is called Dr. Game: Surgeon Trouble (Android / iOS). During this game, something goes wrong and players enter the ‘trouble shoot mode’ in which they have to solve the problem. For instance, the machine that is used for laparoscopic surgery, fails. The problem has to be solved by the surgeon before the next step of the game is unlocked. Dr. Game: Surgeon Trouble has been developed with game company Weirdbeard.
Project “Patiënt safety, Peaks in the Delta”
These games are an outcome of the project “Patient safety, Peaks in the Delta”, of which project partners are Dutch Game Garden, TNO and Taskforce Innovation (now Economic Board Utrecht). Health insurance firm CZ and the Ministry of Economic affairs have contributed financially to this project. Marlies Schijven, professor in Surgery, and specialising in serious gaming, simulation and applied mobile healthcare, is convinced these games are very useful. “A lot of people play games on their phone, you can bet on that. It is proven that surgeon deliver better results when they practice with games. Therefore it is a logical step to develop these games as apps. It is a different way of presenting knowledge. Recent research has shown that de knowledge surgeons get out of these app-games, is relevant. Surgeons who play Dr. Game, recognize problems during surgery faster in a testenvironment, than surgeons who have been trained in the “old fashioned” way.”
