Via: Clinical Tools, Inc.
Clinical Tools, Inc. is currently creating a
new continuing clinical training based on Serious Games called Clinical Challenge | Alcohol,
to be released in 2015.
The project seeks to improve outcomes of
patients with at risk alcohol use or an alcohol use disorder by improving the
alcohol assessment and intervention skills of medical students.
The personal, financial and other costs to
society of at-risk drinking and alcohol use disorders are well known. 2012
estimates of past-month substance use include:
·
17 million heavy drinkers
·
59.7 million binge
drinkers
Approximately 88,000 alcohol-related deaths
occurred annually from 2006 to 2010, making excessive alcohol use the third
leading lifestyle-related cause of death. Estimates of the economic impact of
alcohol exceed $224 billion, annually, including loss in workplace
productivity, health care expenses, accidents, crime, and other destructive
losses.
The Clinical Challenge: Alcohol project builds upon developers’ existing platform Clinical Encounters
3D-Patient Training Environment, to create a challenging Serious Game to be
mastered.
Medical students experience the real-world
challenges of patient care including time-pressure, the need to make assessment
and intervention decisions, and exposure to the effect of those decisions on
their patients. By engaging and challenging medical students to improve their
alcohol assessment and intervention skills, future physicians may be better
prepared to assist patients with at unhealthy alcohol use and improve the
health outcomes of those patients.
The game replicates the real-world challenges
of patient care, but efficiently provides a wide variety of clinical
experiences. Students conduct interviews and perform standardized assessments
with virtual (e.g., computer generated) patients. They receive differing
simulated patient responses (e.g., acceptance, confusion, refusal, suspicious
behavior) and preceptor feedback in response to the choices and decisions they
make.
To categorize alcohol use and, as indicated,
establish an alcohol use diagnosis, they proceed to select physical exam
components and select and interpret diagnostic screens and tests. As
appropriate for health professional students in the early stage of their
clinical training, students develop an evidence-based treatment plan that
minimizes risk of at use drinking and provides appropriate follow-up.
The game will be further used as an
application on a computer tablet but it is now being presented
as a rough online prototype.
Clinical
Challenge: Alcohol website invites players to try out some selected interactive prototype features for a
clinical skill training game on alcohol use problems. Players will be asked for feedback as they interact with this
prototype and in a short survey at the end.
The Serious Game is part of a larger initiative SBIRT Core Training Program,
aimed at improving clinical skills in screening, brief interventions, and
referral to treatment for substance use problems.
SBIRTTraining.com is
being developed by Clinical Tools,
Inc. (CTI) with funding from the National Institute on Drug
Abuse