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"For the University of Pennsylvania, the 2011-2012 academic year has been dubbed "The Year of the Game." The University's various departments are all encouraged to weave games into curricula. The folks at Penn Nursing School, however, are taking it to a whole other level." Call for healthcare related games.

Report of a session from the Connected Health Symposium hosted by Partners Healthcare in Boston this week

Abstract: "Serious Games are increasingly used as a training and educational tool. Fire keeps claiming a high number of victims. Some authors allege failures during the evacuation process as the main cause that contributes for that number. Fire drills are used to train buildings' occupants for emergency situations. However, fire drills' participants often have prior knowledge of their schedule and as result they are not as focused as they should. Moreover, fire drills require the mobilization of some resources, leading to financial costs. Performing a fire drill will always affect the normal functioning of the place where they take place; for this reason, sometimes they are not performed at all. In some special locations, like hospitals, fire drills are unsuitable. Emergency planning is crucial to prevent and minimize damage and victims. Albeit the improvement on safety measures, many occupants and employers in this type of buildings still lack adequate knowledge and training on how to behave in such hazardous situations. EVA is presented as a possible solution, which is based on the concept of Serious Game that can be used as a training tool for healthcare professionals. A preliminary prototype was developed. A sample of 20 subjects was selected to test it giving promising results. Results also showed that users who had training in fire prevention appear to perform better in the course. Moreover, participants who regularly play computer games overcame easily the game challenges. Further research and development are still to be explored, which are discussed in the concluding part of this paper."

Published 2013 and excerpted in Google Books

Abstract: "following paper presents an experimental study. In the study a course for Basic Life Support training has been evaluated and two game design patterns have been applied to the course. The hypotheses evaluated in this paper relate to game design patterns that have been used for learning functions, expected to enhance the learning outcome and user experience. An experimental design has been carried out in order to get insight about effects of individual and combined game patterns in a Basic Life Support course. Based on the according educational objectives, the effects of two different game design patterns relevant for learning (a timer pattern and a score pattern) have been evaluated. This game was prototypically developed targeting the application on the healthcare domain (basic life support). The results show a significant interaction effect of the two patterns on the learning gain, as well as a strong covariate influence of the learners' age."

Mobile health games developed by teams at University of Pennsylvania nursing school

Report from the Games for Health conference points to US government interests and potential regulatory considerations

"Tom Baranowski of Baylor College of Medicine, Willis Gee of Cigna, Cameron Lister of Brigham Young University, Kevin Werbach of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and Rhett Woods of Rally Health spoke with iHealthBeat about the growing use of digital gaming to encourage healthy behaviors and reduce costs."