[NYAPRS Enews] MCN: Role Playing Game Designed To Help Docs Identify PTSD

[Harvey Rosenthal]

Role Playing Game Designed To Help Docs Identify PTSD Related To
Hurricane Sandy (video)

by Stephanie Baum  MedCity News  December 4, 2012

 

The New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
<http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/home/home.shtml>  is providing an
interactive, role-playing game to primary care physicians in the city to
help them better identify and treat people suffering from traumatic
illnesses. It is expediting this initiative because of the impact of
Hurricane Sandy
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-i-sederer-md/hurricane-sandy-mental
-health_b_2089645.html> .

Kognito Interactive <http://www.kognito.com/about/>  is the behavioral
health gaming technology company that developed the tool. Jennifer
Spiegler, the vice president for strategic partnerships at Kognito, told
MedCity News at the mHealth Summit in Washington, D.C.
<http://www.mhealthsummit.org/>  that it would be provided to as many as
8,000 primary care physicians.

Its Human Interactive Game Engine is based on research in social
cognition and neuroscience. Used in settings ranging from healthcare,
the military, K-12 and college classes, role-playing exercises range
from assessing a war veteran for post traumatic stress disorder with
back pain and a woman with arthritis who also has depression. It also
has a simulator to help faculty identify and refer students showing
signs of mental distress.

Spiegler says one aim of the company is to reduce the stigma associated
with behavioral health disorders and to increase empathy by healthcare
professionals for their patients.

Its role-playing exercises create multiple scenarios. A role-playing
exercise featuring a veteran with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
prompts users to make a choice about the types of questions they ask and
the order they ask them. They can also see and hear how the patient
responds and literally read their thoughts in a thought bubble. The
program aimed at primary care providers provides role-playing scenarios
for the four most common trauma-related diseases: sexual assault,
substance abuse, depression and PTSD....

 

http://medcitynews.com/2012/12/ny-primary-care-physicians-to-get-behavio
ral-health-gaming-tool-to-help-hurricane-sandy-victims/#ixzz2EBEhzy00

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