Spring Break
Role-playing the way to health
Duke researchers tackle real-world problems with video games
By: Jessica Lichter
Issue date: 4/2/08 Section: News
Last update: 4/2/08 at 6:24 AM EST
Last update: 4/2/08 at 6:24 AM EST
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Duke researchers are collaborating with private companies in using virtual-reality simulators to teach health care providers and help drug abusers overcome addiction.
"As opposed to most games where people run around and shoot things, the goals of the games we are creating are to save lives and teach people to save lives," said Jerry Heneghan, Fuqua '02, founder and chief executive officer of Virtual Heroes, Inc.-a company that creates virtual simulation systems.
Zachary Rosenthal, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, has devised a video game to help crack addicts combat addiction.
As part of the treatment, therapists guide patients through a virtual world filled with drug-related stimuli.
"The way we created the virtual world was we went with [a Durham Police Department] unit and took pictures of crack neighborhoods and neighborhoods related to crack use," Rosenthal said. "[We then] used that imagery with software artists and tried to create a virtual world that looks a lot like Durham."
Although patients initially experience high cravings in response to the virtual world, the cravings decline within a few minutes when no crack is smoked. Once the cravings subside, researchers play a series of unique sounds. Patients then learn to associate the sounds with the absence of the drug.
The patients are then given cell phones that are connected to an automated server that calls them three times a day and plays the unique tone. They can also request to hear this tone whenever they desire. Therefore, when the patients experience high cravings, they can listen to this sound and their cravings will go back down.
Virtual simulators can also serve educational purposes. Faculty at the Duke University Medical Center, working in conjunction with Virtual Heroes, designed 3DiTeams-an interactive virtual trainer that helps users optimize teamwork and communication in the medical setting.
"If you went through any hospital and suffered any injury, there is up to a 70-percent chance it had to do with [failures in] teamwork and communication," said Dr. Jeffrey Taekman, an assistant professor of anesthesiology and director of human simulation and patient safety.
3DiTeams is based on a health care team coordination curriculum called TeamSTEPPS, which was created by the Defense Department and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Users are able to participate in a shared virtual medical environment, and they receive extensive feedback after each session. It also employs three-dimensional graphics in realistic settings, such as battlefields in Iraq and the emergency room at Duke University Hospital.
In addition, the program permits instructors to constantly alter a virtual patient's vital signs during the simulation. The program was revealed at an American Society of Anesthesiologists conference, and is used to train anesthesiologists, residents, nurses and medical school students.
"When I was using the program I was an observer," said Chief Anesthesiology Resident Tameta Clark. "[3DiTeams] helped me learn how to manage younger residents, which is ultimately what we want to do when we get out of residency."
Heneghan is also working with Tim Lenoir, Kimberly J. Jenkins chair in new technologies and society and director of graduate studies in information science and information studies, on a project called "Virtual Conflict Resolution: Turning Swords to Ploughshares," to produce a video game geared toward international relations and public policy students. Emphasizing leadership, cultural awareness and problem solving, the game will focus on training students to properly direct humanitarian aid during natural disasters.
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