Top Doc combines high-quality medical images of conditions and abnormalities affecting various parts of the body with challenging real-life questions that help medical students, residents and junior faculty improve their visual diagnostic skills. For an online demo, visit topdocgame.com.

“We want users to feel as though they are facing and dealing with relevant scenarios within a virtual medical clinic,” said James Studdiford, MD, FACP, the product’s lead author and Associate Professor at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia.

More than 600 fill-in-the-blank style questions are presented for skill levels ranging from novice to expert. Medical students can use Top Doc to prepare for exams; practitioners can use it to sharpen their diagnostic skills.

Navdeep Chehl, a fourth-year medical student at Jefferson Medical College, said the “clear, vivid images and user-friendly format” provided “an effective and enjoyable way to test, refresh and increase” his knowledge.

Meeting a Need

Elsevier has been developing various medical products to meet the growing demand for digital and mobile access.

“As medicine continues to move into the digital space, products like Top Doc will be excellent resources for medical education,” said Randy Charles, Managing Director of Global Clinical Reference. “By offering the program as an iPhone app, Top Doc provides mobile access to medical students and practitioners who value on-the-go learning opportunities and high quality technology capabilities.”

How it Works – and Why

Top Doc users view clinical photographs depicting a physical sign or symptom and try to make the correct diagnosis as quickly as possible. In the game version, the player enters single letters of the alphabet, which fill in spaces to form the correct answer. Three wrong letters result in no credit. But as the student fills in correct letters, the number of remaining characters and the location of these letters serve as clues to prompt memory of the right answer. Questions automatically adjust to the player’s knowledge level.

Players must navigate through multiple levels of difficulty and through all body regions to become the Top Doc. Learning in this way has a scientific basis. Recruiting neural networks to perform pattern completion from partial cues triggers and strengthens memory associations each time the game is played, according to Dr. Patric K. Stanton, Professor of Cell Biology & Anatomy at New York Medical College and an expert in cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. This increases the likelihood of retrieving the appropriate information in future test and diagnostic situations, he said. At the conclusion of each fast-paced game,  players are given a final grade based on their performance, which they can automatically post to their Facebook account. A review mode is also available for those who want to study the content in a  non-competitive flashcard format.

“Users are able to experience and react to realistic patient encounters that require quick, concise clinical responses,” said co-author Amber Tully, MD, Assistant Professor of Family Medicine at Jefferson Medical College.

Top Doc is available for purchase in the iTunes App store and retails for $14.99.

About the author

This article was written by Lisa Haasbroek with the Consumer Marketing / Product Management division of Legacy Interactive. If you wish to know more about Top Doc she can be reached by email: lisa [at] legacyinteractive [dot] com. Thank you so much for providing the information, Lisa!

The Twitter message I saw from Manny had to do with a Facebook game that the DHF partnered with other organizations to develop: HealthSeeker. With the help of the Joslin Diabetes Center and Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, HealthSeeker (designed by Ayogo Games, Inc.) launched to join the movement of healthy gaming. One of the things I like about this concept is how easily it integrates into your Facebook experience. The social gaming movement for healthy behavior change is still in its infancy but is gaining traction with projects such as Get Up and Move headed up by Jen McCabe and her Contagion Health company (oh yeah and they are hiring).

Check out the HealthSeeker video to get a bit more familiar with the platform:

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I love seeing how connecting with your own peers/friends is the concept of social gaming for health. For more information on the game, check out this post from Manny’s blog.

We’ve always known that they’re excellent forms of relaxation, but of late, video and computer games are being tapped by the medical community as ways to improve general health, treat certain disorders, and even provide therapy and rehabilitation. We’ve seen how doctors are using gaming techniques to help patients who’ve suffered from strokes to recover faster, and we’ve heard of the physical workouts that the Wii Fit and other similar gaming machines provide. There are other areas too where gaming is considered beneficial to health, such as in:

• Treating symptoms of ADHD: Video games, when played for an hour or so a day, help children with ADHD channel their excess energy and achieve a relatively peaceful state of mind by giving them a sense of achievement, a condition that is quite rare in children who have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. While there is no practical (read inexpensive) way to measure the daily returns that gaming provides or see how it helps kids with ADHD, researchers have proved that neurofeedback has positive effects on IQ and attention span, and is also effective as medication.
• Boosting vision: Researchers have found that video games are effective in boosting contrast sensitivity, the ability of the human eyes to distinguish between minute changes in shades of grey against a uniform background. Simply put, contrast sensitivity helps us drive more safely at night and when the external light is poor. This quality decreases with age and was previously thought to be untreatable, except through surgical means. But the Nature Neuroscience study at the University of Rochester has shown that people who play video games that involve aiming and shooting at virtual targets have enhanced contrast sensitivity.
• Improving mental health: We know that video games that involve strategyboost our cognition and memory power, but of late, researchers have found that video games also allow people to beat depression and feel better about themselves. It gives them a sense of achievement as they go from one level to the other and it forms a natural high, the kind associated with exercise and endorphins.

Improving health behaviors and outcomes.

With gaming proving to be a useful health enhancer, it’s no wonder that there are various grants being awarded to study the effect of computerized games on improving health behaviors and outcomes – the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded 12 grants worth $2 million to hospitals and universities, the Princeton Foundation has set up a program called Games for Health as part of its $8.25 million Health Games Research Initiative, the Maine Medical Center in Portland is conducting a study to see if the Dance Dance Revolution dance pad video game can help overweight children lose weight, and the University of Washington School of Medicine is checking to see if mobile games can help people with Type II diabetes improve their eating habits. To put it in a nutshell, the future of health gaming looks bright and healthy.

About the Guest Contributor

This article was contributed by Susan White who regularly writes on the subject of Radiology Technician Schools in Texas. She invites your questions and comments below and at her email address: susan[dot]white33[at]gmail.com.

Basics of the contest [from the page]:

The Wii Mommies are looking for individuals who are unfamiliar with the Nintendo Wii and the Wii Fit Plus to participate in our Citizen Journalist Program to analyze specific elements of the Wii Fit Plus and submit weekly reports on their findings over a period of three weeks. You do not have to be a parent or female to apply, all are welcome.

Here at healthGAMERS, we’re super excited to see the results of the program and the feedback that the various citizen journalists come up with in their reports. The purpose of this health games movement is to make sure people get real experiences and this is a perfect way to get that done. The more people who realize that there are healthy and fun activities out there, the more we can continue spreading the word.

Applications close on March 5th so head on over there and apply if you’re interested! Also don’t forget to follow Wii Mommies on Twitter.

A stroke leaves you with numbness and lack of movement on one side of your body – your face, arm and/or leg become weak and you lose control over them. The recovery process is slow and tedious, and if the blood flow to the affected area of your brain is restored before permanent damage is done, your rehabilitation program determines how fast you return to normalcy. To this end, ARM (Assessment, Rehabilitation, Movement), an initiative set up by a group of therapists, doctors, engineers and psychologists at the University of Southampton proves to be a fun rehab tool for those who are recovering from a stroke.

It is meant to help them regain movement of their arm and control it better through a technique known as Iterative Learning Control, something that was earlier used only in the manufacture and research of industrial robots. In theory, the process is the same – you use iterative learning to teach the limb how to move. In the robots, it is achieved using artificial intelligence; for humans recovering from a stroke, it is a process of teaching the brain movements that are innate, but which it has forgotten because of the illness.

In layman’s terms, gaming technology is being used to retrain arm and hand functions that have been diminished or paralyzed because of the brain damage caused by a stroke. The initiative has borne fruit thanks to the efforts of the teams at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science and the School of Health Sciences, both of which combined to come up with this ingenious method for stroke rehabilitation.ARM is even more significant because it has provided researchers with a way to understand how the brain recovers after a stroke and because it allows patients to see how they are progressing, monitor their progress, and try to improve their progress as the days go by. A grant of £2M from the National Institute for Health Research will allow this technology to be taken out of the lab and integrated into the mainstream healthcare practice so that the hundreds of thousands of people who suffer from a stroke every year can recover in a fun and positive way.

About the Author

Shannon Wills is a freelance writer whose current focus is on the topic of Physical Therapist Assistant Schools, a site dedicated to helping students find physical therapy assistant programs and compare physical therapy assistant school options.  Shannon covers a variety of health beats including diabetes management, anti-aging and healthy eating.  She welcomes your comments at her email id : shannonwills23@gmail.com.

“It surprises most people to learn that pneumonia kills more children than any other disease – taking more than 2 million young lives annually,” writes former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Save the Children Board member Bill Frist, MD. [Reuters]

Save the Children, a leading organization focused on improving the lives of children around the world, recently launched their Survive to 5 campaign. This campaign highlights the pressing needs of children around the world who do not survive past their 5th year of life because of the factors that affect their health.

On November 2nd, Save the Children launched the Mission Pneumonia online quiz game to help people get the facts on childhood pneumonia. “Although childhood pneumonia is a serious issue, we wanted to create a fun and interactive way through Mission: Pneumonia for people of all ages to get involved and make a difference,” says Mary Beth Powers – Chief of the Survive to 5 campaign.

The quiz game consists of 7 different levels, each with a number of questions related to pneumonia. As players progress through the levels and answer questions correctly, they are offered opportunities to take action such as sharing what they learn with friends/family through Twitter and Facebook or even  by signing a petition to Congress in support of legislation to expand life-saving health measures to more mothers and children in poor countries.

I think this is a big draw to the future of these types of games where the main goal is to impart knowledge to the player about a specific issue. The tie-in of actionable links is a smart move because you already have the user there on the screen – as they become more aware of the issue, they may be more inclined to move forward with an activity that engages real world constituents.

Another aspect of the game that makes it even more personal is that at the end of each level, players are introduced to real community health workers that are making a difference in their communities after being trained by Save the Children to diagnose pneumonia in children.

Definitely looking forward to more interactive ways to increase education around health issues as well as to spur real world action!

Among the speakers on the panel were Kristi Miller Durazo of the American Heart Association and Douglas Goldstein of iConecto, who was a great moderator of the group. More information to come soon here on healthGAMERS with an interview on what the American Heart Association is doing with an initiative called CryptoZoo – which was unveiled as an actual activity on the morning of Day 2 of the conference. Stay tuned!

I was fortunate enough to catch up with Doug at his booth where throughout the conference he did a fantastic job (as usual) of demonstrating how consoles such as the Nintendo Wii, are shaping these new experiential media engagement tools for the next generation of health education and public health. In the video below, Doug gives us some insight into what experiential media is and why it’s important to improve the health of our society.

Interview with Douglas Goldstein of iConecto & Games4Health from Andre Blackman on Vimeo.

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Helping children recognize emotions with games.

MyFriendQuest is an interactive animated computer game created to teach children to recognize emotions and respond to them appropriately.  This is important, as difficulty with these skills often stands in the way of children reaching their capacity to communicate and develop empathy. Although initially created specifically for children with autism, MyFriendQuest has also achieved great results in testing with children with ADD, ADHD, dyspraxia, learning difficulties, social anxiety and severe shyness.

The interview.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Fraser Hurrell, CEO and Co-Founder of BrightMind LABS who created the game with the leadership of Clinical Psychologist Dr. Yvette Ahmad.

HG: I have often heard that video games are a great way to teach Autistic children.  What was the inspiration behind MyFriendQuest?

FH: The inspiration for MyFriendQuest – and the future games which we are planning under the BrightMind LABS banner – came from the fact that in no country is the need for child mental health services fully met. It seems unlikely that the planet will ever produce – or fund – enough mental health professionals to provide one-on-one therapy for all children who need it.  Gaming is a means of providing more  widespread delivery of cognitive behavioural therapy to those who need it, but are unable to access one-on-one therapy.

HG: Your site says “clinically designed.” Was an effectiveness study done? If so, can you share any results?

FH: A large amount of clinical testing has been done in trials working with kids on the autistic spectrum during development of MyFriendQuest.  However a proper clinical effectiveness study has only just been started – and we anticipate results before Christmas. We’ll post these on the web site once available.

HG: What kind of results should people who purchase this game expect to see in the player?  For example, are better social interactions an expectation or simply better skills at identifying facial expressions?

FH: Skills at identifying facial expressions are a prerequisite for better social interactions.  The expected outcome is for the child to increase their ability to interact socially, reduce anxiety and build
self-esteem.

HG: Describe the “package” that people who purchase your game will receive.

FH: The package will be a downloadable Flash file which has been designed to run on either a PC or a MAC – although only the PC version will be released initially.  To accompany the download will be a detailed user guide which is downloadable in .pdf format free of charge.

HG: What was your funding mechanism for production?

FH: The production has been funded so far by private investment.  Once we have proven the delivery model with the first game, we will be looking for further investment to develop future games.

HG: Was art and programming done in-house?

FH: We developed the clinical aspects of MyFriendQuest in-house, and also the storyboarding and scripting.  Once we had a good idea of what we wanted, we brought Flux Animation Studios in Auckland into the mix –and they took care of the Flash animations.  Local company Guerrilla managed the programming.

HG: Who is your target market? Should we expect to see this inphysicians’ offices or is it an at-home purchase for parents and their children?

FH: Initially the target market is direct to parents of children on the higher functioning end of the autistic spectrum.  However, we have had a lot of interest from institutions to bulk purchase as a therapeutic intervention they can provide to parents while on the waiting list for one-on-one therapy.  When we release, the game will  initially be marketed just to parents through one-off sales, but we  will work quickly on developing a mechanism for making bulk sales to health institutions.

HG: You mention future games on the horizon.  Will they all be related to autism and childhood mental health?

FH: Future games will be targeted to mental health conditions for children up to 12 years of age.  We do have more ideas for kids on the autistic spectrum – and also some great ideas in the pipeline for other conditions.

About BrightMind LABS.

Winner of the 2009 Global Social Impact Assessment competition at Berkeley, BrightMind LABS exists to improve the lives of children with mental health issues. Their goal is to deliver Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by computer (CCBT) to children using an immersive gaming wrapper. They have coined the term psytainment to define this exciting new space. Their first release, MyFriendQuest, is now available for download at the low price of $39.95 USD.

For a long time I’ve wanted to do a post all about mobile phone-based health games.  After all, visit the iPhone App store and you’re bombarded with thousands of choices.  From the complete works of Plato to real estate prices, there’s a little (or a lot) for everyone.  In the healthcare & fitness and medical sections alone, users have 2140+ apps to choose from.  But are there any health games in the app store yet?  Not really.  These are as close to health games as I could find:

• Nike Training Club – Create an avatar, customize your workout, learn new drills, compete with friends.
• Are You Smarter than Your Doctor? – Quiz game that allows you to compete with friends or one-on-one with your doc to show him/her that you know much more than they do.  A fun way to educate patients with questions based on questions posed by real licensed doctors.

But are these the only health game apps?

I decided to take my question to a higher authority–Google.  The result?  Mindless Eating Challenge from the folks at Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab.  Based on the book by Dr. Brian Wansink of the same name, Mindless Eating Challenge is a mobile phone-based health game in which players are tasked with caring for a virtual pet, similar to a Tamgotchi.  The player must follow a variety of health and eating recommendations and verify their actions with photos taken from their phone’s camera.  Here is a example of what to expect from gameplay:

For example, the recommendation “Eat a hot breakfast” would require the player to submit a photo of him/ herself eating a bowl of oatmeal.  Photos and compliance are then judged either by judges or peers.  Based on compliance to these recommendations, the pet or plant changes its appearance and gains features or accessories–a tree might grow taller or grow more leaves or fruit in response.  Alternatively, leaves might fall off if the players performance is poor.  A social portion of the game allows the user to see various depictions of their performance in comparison to the performance of others in their group, as well as of their group in comparison to other groups.  The game is designed so that various features can be easily enabled and disabled so it can be used as a platform from which to conduct research into the mechanisms of mobile persuasion in the context of improving health and well-being.

I spoke briefly with JP Pollak, PhD candidate and participant on the project. He and his team are in the process of submitting findings for publication on their first full study using 70 middle schoolers.  Hopefully we’ll get more details on that soon.

I got into video games when my brother received an Atari 2600 for Christmas in the early 80s. I was four or five but I knew enough at the time to understand that I really liked them. Since that time, video games have always seemed to capture my fascination, whether they were console games, PC-based games, or games in an arcade. Especially games in an arcade, for some reason… Over the years I’ve played games on that Atari 2600, on a Nintendo Entertainment System that I requested for two years straight, on a Sega Genesis that I saved up for three months to buy, on a PlayStation that I somehow convinced my parents to buy me while in college, on an Xbox that I bought with a tax refund, on a Sony PlayStation Portable that I picked up along the way, and currently on an Xbox 360 that I bought after selling my Xbox and PSP to raise the funds.

Video games have always been a part of my life, and I haven’t just played them either. I’ve also enjoyed reading and talking about them with friends, both in person and online. I think that there are different aspects to video games than simply turning them on and tuning out, although that is the subject of this post… Video games can be played for entertainment, for diversion, to get together with friends, and as a stress release to name a few.

Let’s talk about video games and stress.

Stress is serious. CBS News talked about stress killing back in 2003. The idea of video games being designed to relieve stress levels has been around and  documented from a health standpoint. In addition,  surveys have been conducted showing that people who play casual games relieve stress while they play. I think that playing games to reduce stress is a cool way to kill two birds with one stone.

So what if a video game could give you the same stress reducing results as a vacation?

I first heard the term Video Game Vacation when Liam Lynch mentioned it on MTV Cribs. I immediately identified with it because I think that it perfectly describes a phenomenon that I was familiar with, but had not known to call it anything in particular.

Dictionary.com defines the word vacation as: a period of suspension of work, study, or other activity, usually used for rest, recreation, or travel; recess or holiday

Now you can always take a vacation by cruising to a beach somewhere exotic, but I’m suggesting that you can also take a vacation to a far away land by locking yourself in your living room, drawing the shades, and loading up the latest blockbuster title until you finish it. I have personally taken video game vacations with Splinter Cell, Halo, Fable, Assassin’s Creed, and Grand Theft Auto IV to name a few. And I’m talking about pulling geek-fest all nighters to advance in the game.

For the money they’re great, and a lot cheaper than airfare + hotel.

The one thing I really like about video game vacations is the sense of immersion I am able to experience for that period of time. The task at hand is all that matters, how do I get to the next screen, stage, level, what-have-you? I find it liberating, and akin to pushing my body to its limits while exercising. I have learned that I am able to focus intensely for a relatively short period of time, and walk away totally refreshed with a new perspective on the real challenges that life brings on a daily basis.

Now that I’ve outed myself, I’m interested in reading what you think about the idea of a video game vacation. What games have you played obsessively until you beat them? What games do you wish that you had more time to play? Let me know in the comments below.

About the author.

Chris Hall is an internet enthusiast working to promote a health epidemic centered on Life and Happiness within the walls of Humana’s Innovation Center. A project manager by trade, Chris is passionate about all forms of digital media, electronic dance music, and Carne Asada burritos. Chris can be found tweeting and blogging about all forms of awesomeness under the code name: Hallicious.

photo by: lylamerle