Via: Air Medic Sky One
Following my prior post Serious Games Award Winners Announced @ Serious Play, here are a few more details about Air Medic Sky One, created by University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, which was awarded Best of Show at Serious Play Award Competition.
This innovative patient safety game is an interactive biofeedback game. In the game players are introduced to biofeedback game controls to navigate the game and basic concepts regarding communication and teamwork in patient safety given by an international team of patient safety experts delivered through mini-games and lectures. Players also manage patients in complex situations that they will inevitably face as junior doctors.
Game Background
Air Medic Sky 1 was first conceived by Dr. Ian Leistikow when he was the coordinator of patient safety at the University Medical Center Utrecht. Ian dreamed of creating a cutting-edge Serious Game that could train young doctors about patient safety.
In order to achieve this goal, Ian and Dr. Cor Kalkman, the head of patient safety, recruited Pamela M. Kato, a psychologist known for creating the groundbreaking Serious Game Re-Mission™, shown to increase treatment adherence for young people with cancer in a clinical trial. The team then enlisted the expertise of game designer, Corwin Bell, creator of the revolutionary biofeedback game series, The Journey to Wild Divine, and his team at Visionshift Studios.
This innovative patient safety game is an interactive biofeedback game. In the game players are introduced to biofeedback game controls to navigate the game and basic concepts regarding communication and teamwork in patient safety given by an international team of patient safety experts delivered through mini-games and lectures. Players also manage patients in complex situations that they will inevitably face as junior doctors. Play and learn about patient safety and gain insight into how physiological functioning affects performance.
Game Early Prototype
This is the intro scene for the Bio Dome, a structure and environment that exist in the "Patient Safety" prototype. The Bio Dome and the Air Medic Sky 1 are both major themes in the "Patient Safety" prototype.
AMS1 is not about teaching medicine. Air Medic Sky One (AMS1) is a "Serious Game" that provides young doctors with new techniques to enhance their performance.
Despite their high level of training, all doctors at some point in their career will be involved in harming a patient. The numbers are staggering: up to 5% of all patients admitted to a hospital suffer unintended harm. When doctors are involved, the cause is seldom lack of medical knowledge. More often it is the organizational and situational contexts in which doctors have to work that deny them the opportunity to apply their knowledge to the best of their abilities. This frustrates doctors and harms patients.
We cannot change these contexts with a game. We can however change the way doctors manage within these contexts. AMS1 fills a void in current medical training by teaching doctors about non-medical factors which can influence their performance. AMS1 improves doctors’ ability to recognize problems before they occur, and so give them more time to adjust and prevent harm to their patients. AMS1 offers a safe place to practice decision making under extreme pressure, so doctors can improve their style. AMS1 uses biofeedback to let doctors experience their own stress regulation and become capable of consciously influencing their own stress levels.
