ARA Virtual Heroes, the Serious
Games Division of Applied Research Associates, is this year’s finalist in the Best Business Developed Serious Game
category of the Serious Games Showcase & Challenge with Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery (FRS) Virtual Team.
FRS Virtual Team is
an interactive, 3D virtual operating theater, where a robotic surgery team can
practice critical teamwork and communication skills.
With robotic surgery, a surgeon controls a machine that does the
operating - he or she may be a few steps to thousands of miles away from the
patient, nurses, and the rest of the surgical team. Such computer-assisted
surgery has the potential for greater accuracy; smoother, more precise motions;
less tissue trauma, and speedier healing. The drawback is the loss of
one-on-one communication between the surgeon and the team: voices may be
muffled, face-to-face visual cues are absent.
This is why effective communication skills are crucial, and where the FRS
Virtual Team comes into play - a Serious Game that can be used by
robotic surgeons everywhere to better learn to communicate with their teams,
increasing the success rate of these types of procedures.
"Robotic surgery creates a larger problem because it's so
different than other surgical approaches," added Tanaka. "Instead of
the surgeon being able to make eye contact or be heard clearly, they've got
their face in the console and could be several feet away from the team. ... The
goal for us is to give them an environment they can play in their home or
office, in the hope of improving their communication skills with their
team."
Tanaka said the cost to develop the game came in at around $400,000. The game is available to the public at no cost, which allows for a greater distribution and use.
Game Content, Context
and Play
FRS Virtual Team is a
first-person, single player Serious Game in which the instructional content and
decision points are based on the widely used TeamSTEPPS curriculum (Safny et
al, Feb2011; Thomas and Galla, May 2013) and WHO checklists for surgery (WHO,
June 2008). This material was then modified for application in a robotic OR
environment.
Game context, the robotic operating room, presents unique hurdles for
the operative team. This game leverages actual surgical footage to
progress the scenarios.
Players must effectively navigate through five scenarios, consisting of
briefing, operative, and debriefing stages. Each scenario tests the player’s
ability to communicate and work effectively with their team to overcome common
robotic surgery team situations.
As the player progresses through the scenarios, key communication
concepts are reinforced with increasingly more complex situations. FRS
Virtual Team surpasses the traditional approach for team training by
providing an interactive environment and virtual team for robotic surgeons to
independently practice leadership and communication.
At the end of each scenario, players receive an After Action Review
(AAR), which outlines their quality of team communication.
The game fully delivers on its ambitious value proposition: a powerful
solution for robotic surgeons worldwide to practice an effective and safe team
communication protocol in a fun/engaging playful context.
Utilizing instructional content and decision points based on the widely
used TeamSTEPPS curriculum and WHO checklists for surgery, the game has the
additional merit of having this material modified for application in a robotic
OR setting.
Acknowledging that although computer-assisted surgery has the potential
for greater accuracy it also presents communication hurdles for the operative
team, developers have come up with a unique solution for robotic
surgery team standard training.