A Serious Game on the First-Aid Procedure in Choking Scenarios: Design and Evaluation Study.

BACKGROUND: Choking is one of the causes of unintentional injury death. Gaining the knowledge of the first-aid procedure that has to be applied in case of choking can increase the chances of survival of persons with choking. Serious games can be a good channel for educating people about choking scenarios and the actions to be taken to save the persons with choking. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to present and evaluate the effectiveness of a serious game designed to prevent choking and to promote the first-aid procedure that needs to be applied in case of choking. METHODS: In this study, we present a serious game as a set of minigames that reproduces the main steps of the protocol for the first-aid performed in choking. In the proposed game, the player acquires the role of a helper who has to save the person in a choking emergency by applying the main steps of the protocol. Time and score restrictions are imposed to pass each minigame. To test this game, we performed a pilot study with 48 high school students. Different tests were performed to assess the students' preferences and their knowledge on choking before and after playing the proposed game. The obtained results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test when a grade variable was involved and by using Fisher exact test when 2 categorical variables were involved. RESULTS: The findings of our study showed that the players enjoyed the game. No statistical differences were detected when considering the gender of the player, their preferences for video games, or their previous experience in choking emergencies. By comparing the knowledge of these students before and after playing the game, we found that all the indicators of the knowledge about how to act in case of a choking emergency were improved through this serious game. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of our study show that the proposed game is a good strategy for promoting and teaching first-aid procedures in choking emergencies to nonexperts in this field.

How the gender of a victim character in a virtual scenario created to learn CPR protocol affects student nurses' performance.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Virtual simulations recreate scenarios where student nurses can practice procedures in a safe and supervised manner and with no risk to the patient. Virtual scenarios include digital characters that reproduce human actions. Generally, these characters are modeled as males and restricted roles are assigned to females. Our objective is to evaluate how the character gender of a victim in a scenario created to practice the cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocol (CPR) affects performance of student nurses. METHODS: Three virtual scenarios with cardiac arrest victims modeled as males or females were assigned to 41 students of the Nursing Faculty to practice the CPR protocol. We evaluated student performance with respect to the time to remove clothes, the time to perform the CPR maneuver, and the hands position for CPR. Chi-square, Fisher exact, and Mann-Whitney U were used to test primary outcome measures in the experimental design of victim character sex (male vs. female) and student sex (men vs. women). RESULTS: The analysis performed did not find statistically differences in time to remove clothes or in time to start CPR. With respect to hands placement we also did not find significant difference in any of the cases. CONCLUSION: Nurse student actions are not influenced by the character gender of the victim. Excellent results with respect to hands placement to start CPR are obtained. Virtual scenarios can be a suitable strategy to reduce gender differences in gender sensitive situations such as CPR performance.

Using a serious game to complement CPR instruction in a nurse faculty.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is a first aid key survival technique used to stimulate breathing and keep blood flowing to the heart. Its effective administration can significantly increase the chances of survival for victims of cardiac arrest. LISSA is a serious game designed to complement CPR teaching and also to refresh CPR skills in an enjoyable way. The game presents an emergency situation in a 3D virtual environment and the player has to save the victim applying the CPR actions. In this paper, we describe LISSA and its evaluation in a population composed of 109 nursing undergraduate students enrolled in the Nursing degree of our university. To evaluate LISSA we performed a randomized controlled trial that compares the classical teaching methodology, composed of self-directed learning for theory plus laboratory sessions with a mannequin for practice, with the one that uses LISSA after self-directed learning for theory and before laboratory sessions with a mannequin. From our evaluation we observed that students using LISSA (Group 2 and 3) gave significantly better learning acquisition scores than those following traditional classes (Group 1). To evaluate the differences between students of these groups we performed a paired samples t-test between Group 1 and 2 (µ1=35, 67, µ2=47, 50 and p<0.05) and between students of Group 1 and 3 (µ1=35, 67, µ3=50, 58 and p<0.05). From these tests we observed that there are significant differences in both cases. We also evaluated student performance of main steps of CPR protocol. Students that use LISSA performed better than the ones that did not use it.