Patient Rescue is a proof of concept for a game that supports health professionals to recognise the signs of patient deterioration, use set protocols to assess a patient's condition and intervene effectively. The policy areas of 'Failure to Rescue' and 'Patient Safety' are key areas of concern in both the UK and USA.

The game automatically generates a new patient each time it is launched; their condition is based on medical data supplied by UK clinicians and has been developed in partnership with County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. There are two modes of play - passive, where a player is able to see a patient deteriorate and die from a variety of conditions - and interactive, where the player's task is to use the assessment tools to determine the correct intervention to stabilise the patient's condition. The game ends when the patient is either stabilised or dead. A feedback screen shows the player where they made the correct decisions, what they missed and which decisions were incorrect and potentially dangerous.

The game has been trialled with junior doctors at two hospitals and a medical training school. Their feedback shows that the proof of concept shows huge promise and has the potential to be a valuable learning tool. TruSim plans to further develop the concept in 2010; expanding the patient models to include women and children as well as including a wider range of medical conditions. Since the underlying technology is built in modules, the game can be customised for different assessment protocols and model particular populations or conditions as needed.

Patient Rescue Video
Warning: some users may find the visualisation distressing