Pulse!! and the 2009 French medical training partnership

Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab was developed at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi as a federally funded project directed by Claudia L. McDonald, the campus's associate vice president for special projects. It lets medical professionals practice decision-making and hands-on skills on PCs in a simulated hospital. In May 2008 the Texas A&M University System licensed worldwide rights to the developer BreakAway Ltd., which could develop, market and distribute it. The Yale, Johns Hopkins and Tufts medical schools were testing it at that time, and the first planned application was dental implant training. The software was meant to address education and training gaps created by a growing shortage of healthcare professionals.

The 2009 coverage called Pulse!! the largest investment in serious games to date, at $14.7 million. That figure comes from the coverage and could not be matched to a primary source.

In November 2009 the French health communication agency Interaction Healthcare, building on its partnership with BreakAway, announced it would adapt Pulse!! for medical training in France. The announcement described Interaction Healthcare as a major player in e-health, specializing in strategy and implementation of communication and health training tools. The plan covered public projects and two kinds of module.

The first kind targeted medical practice: training on complex medical devices, surgical procedures such as obstetrics, and new equipment. The second covered health issues, such as disease prevention, aimed at the general public.

The simulation presents situations such as a patient's medical history and physiological responses to drug treatment. According to the announcement, it covers diagnosis of all kinds of illness, emergency room services and complex surgical procedures, and tests knowledge that would otherwise be gained through traditional learning.

No page found in November 2026 confirms that Pulse!! can be used or that it was withdrawn. BreakAway Games' site loads in November 2026. Its home page describes game technology for real-world problems and offers medical and nursing games through a vHealthCare Portal, but it does not mention Pulse!!. Interaction Healthcare's site also loads and now presents medical communication, education and events services, with no mention of Pulse!! or of games.

Texas A&M's licensing announcement from 2008 remains online as the origin of the project.

Because no official page offers the simulation or says it ended, its status is listed as unconfirmed. Current titles for clinical practice are collected in the games directory, and degree programs in the field in the programs list.