The 32 Annual Dialysis Conference
Dr. Eric B. Bauman gave two talks on using game-based learning and simulation for patient and clinical education on February 27th at the 32nd Annual Dialysis Conference in San Antonio,Texas. His talks focused on how educators can and should use multimedia tools like virtual environments and video games to engage current nursing, medical, and other clinical health sciences students. His talks also provided examples of how clinicians can leverage game-based learning to engage patients in transformative and translational ways. We know that many of our patient education strategies are ineffective. In the dialysis patient population even small gains in behavioral changes related to diet and medication understanding (and compliance) among patients can have a huge effect on outcome (mortality and morbidity). Video games can provide engaging mechanisms for knowledge transfer and behavioral change. Furthermore, multimedia technology such as smart phone and tablet technology provides some very interesting mechanisms for data collection related to patient behavior that may in time provide a correlation between game-play and health status.
Click here for: Dr. Bauman’s Presentation Slides
CAE Human Patient Simulation Conference (HPSN)
After wrapping up at the Dialysis Conference in San Antonio Dr. Bauman headed Southeast to join his colleagues Dr. Parvati Dev from CliniSpace and Karen Boggio, RN from Waukesha County Technical College at the 2012 CAE HPSN Conferencein in Tampa, Florida. The trio introduced the concept of a hybrid virtual world-to-mannikin based simulation in during a live real-time demonstration on February 29th. This demonstration was very well attended by enthusiastic participants who generated interesting and exciting questions and discussion about multimedia learning opportunities. Virtual world and game-based learning environments provide unique learning opportunities often not available in either real-world clinical spaces or in the created physical spaces of the modern day simulation laboratory.
Ms. Boggio also gave a talk with her colleagues from Waukesha County Technical College on multi-discipline simulation involving her school’s nursing and EMS programs. Inter-Professional Education (IPE) is a topic of recent and advancing robust discussion. If students and later practicing clinicians do not or will not train together it becomes very difficult to situate learning activities in a way that translates to actual clinical settings. Simulation and game-based learning provide collaborative and symbiotic opportunities for clinical education, including IPE.