Computer game helps health workers combat Covid spread
Swiss health workers busy fighting the pandemic are being encouraged to unwind with a computer game that offers not only distraction but also knowledge to battle Covid-19 in real life.
Players of “Escape Covid-19” are guided through a series of scenarios that health workers at hospitals and long-term care facilities encounter on a daily basis.
Each challenge — from before leaving the house to their commute and especially on the job — is geared towards helping frontline staff change their real-world behaviour to better protect against spreading the virus.
Seated alongside emergency response workers fielding alerts at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG), Doctor Melanie Suppan demonstrates how it works.
It starts off easy for the anesthesiologist and IT enthusiast, who helped brainstorm and develop the game.
In “Escape Covid-19”, she wakes up with a cough and fever, and chooses to get tested for Covid and wait for the results before going to work, earning a thumbsup.
But once she has tested negative and gets into work, the game gets more complicated.
“A trainee asks you in which situation(s) an N95/FFP2 mask should be worn instead of a standard mask.”
Faced with a long list of options, Suppan selects several, including “resuscitation” and “respiratory support”, which are correct.
But she also clicks on the use of nasal swabs, and an angry, red coronavirus appears to indicate she got that one wrong.
“The idea is for this to be playful, fun, and lighthearted... not moralising’’, Suppan said.
Researchers at the HUG developed the “serious game”, which is available online in French, German, Italian and English, to help healthcare workers internalise the best practices for avoiding outbreaks on the job.
Professor Stephan Harbarth heads the infection prevention unit at the hospital and his team helped provide the protocol and procedural expertise underlying “Escape Covid-19”.
“Classical hospital hygiene and interhospital infection prevention are not always the most sexy of topics’’, he acknowledged.
“We see that a playful game, along with other communication methods, is more effective in helping people change their behaviour.”
SINCE THE START OF THE PANDEMIC, HOSPITALS AND CARE FACILITIES HAVE TRAGICALLY BECOME INCUBATORS OF COVID-19 OUTBREAKS