CO-DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A DIGITAL SERIOUS GAME TO PROMOTE PUBLIC AWARENESS ABOUT PANCREATIC CANCER

Background: Pancreatic cancer, ranking seventh in global cancer-related deaths, poses a significant public health challenge with increasing incidence and mortality. Most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage, resulting in low survival rates. Patients and their carers prioritise increased public awareness, indicating a need for innovative approaches to promote awareness of the disease.

Outcome: The serious game demonstrated a statistically significant improvement on pancreatic cancer awareness based on matched paired t-tests.

STAFF FLU VACCINATION; IMPROVING UPTAKE WITH A GAME

Client: James Paget University Hospitals NHS FT

Issue: JPUH wanted a fun way to engage staff and raise awareness of the importance of the flu jab and to bust common vaccine-related myths.

Approach: Worked with Focus Games to develop the Flu Bee Game to engage and educate staff.

Outcome: 82% increase in staff uptake since 2016/17 “Flu Bee Game has definitely created a buzz at JPUH and helped us enormously.”

DELIVERING SAFE AND EFFECTIVE PATIENT CARE

Client: Newcomb Library and Information Service at Homerton University Hospital.

Issue: In their efforts to position the library as an integral element of the Trust’s learning environment, the library staff recognised the value that loaning educational board games could add.

Approach: The Library staff have publicised the games through targeted communications to key staff, highlighting their use in both formal and informal peer learning and teaching.

Outcome: Rising loan statistics prove the increasing popularity of the games with staff members across the Trust.

IMPROVING HEALTH & SOCIAL CARE WITH A BOARD GAME

Client: Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust

Issue: The RUH Bath Trust wanted an interactive activity to help new staff understand the requirements of the Care Certificate in their new roles.

Approach: Our Care Certificate Game was integrated into all mandatory Care Certificate training for new and existing healthcare support workers.

Outcome: Feedback from players has been great - staff tell us that the game really helps them think about how they treat patients and how they can improve patient safety.

INITIAL EVALUATION OF USING EDUCATIONAL BOARD GAMES WITH STAFF AND SERVICE-USERS IN A RESIDENTIAL CARE HOME

Client: NHS Highland & Seaforth House

Issue: Training games are increasingly popular within health and social care. However, little work has been done to evaluate how suitable games are for engaging with service-users and patients. This initial evaluation suggests that board games may be a useful tool for helping staff and service-users to explore the important role of food, fluids and effective communication in social care settings.

Outcome: “I now believe that these games are a great way to learn. I could see the depth of engagement in the way that staff and residents concentrated on the game and on answering questions and engaging with scenarios.”

THE STROKE GAME: UNDERSTANDING THE STROKE PATIENT'S JOURNEY

Client: Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland and NHS Lanarkshire.

Issue: Our clients wanted to help health professionals fully understand stroke, from the emergency right through to rehabilitation, in a way that encouraged discussion and sharing ideas.

Approach: They decided that a board game would be the perfect solution, and worked with us to develop The Stroke Game.

Outcome: The Stroke Game was distributed to every stroke unit and university in Scotland through an educational grant and feedback continues to be overwhelmingly positive.

SEPSIS GAME

Client: Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust

Issue: Improve recognition and treatment of sepsis within the hospital.

Outcome: The Sepsis Game was introduced into the Trust in 2015. Since its introduction, there has been nothing but positive feedback and game has now been rolled out across the Trust and is used in study days with all grades of staff.

MCDONALD'S: THE WELCOME GAME

Client: McDonald’s Restaurants UK

Issue: McDonald’s wanted a way to engage more effectively with new starters during induction meetings in their 1,250 UK restaurants.

Approach: We created The Welcome Game to encourage learner-led discussions about key customer experience and customer service issues.

Outcome: Since the game was introduced there has been a 35% increase in the number of staff who feel prepared for their first shift, while 96% of them feel confidence interacting with customers.

A BLENDED LEARNING APPROACH AT HEINEKEN

Client: Heineken

Issue: Heineken Capability Academy wanted to improve initial training for customer-facing teams.

Approach: They commissioned us to develop a blended learning solution, with on and offline games to equip new starters with core knowledge and skills.

Outcome: The games met Heineken’s objectives and they were delighted with the outcome.

GAMIFIED WORKSHOP

Client: A Global Life Sciences Company

Issue: This company wanted to streamline their induction process, as it was time consuming, expensive and ineffective.

Approach: They asked us to “gamify” the process, to make it shorter, more memorable and more fun. We developed a series of gamified workshops where teams work together to understand a complex value process.

Outcome: Our gamified workshop cut the time required for induction by half, and both the client and participants found the new process much more engaging.

GLOBAL PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY – TRANSFORMING SALES CAPABILITY

Client: A Top-5 Pharmaceutical Company

Issue: Our client wanted to transform its global customer-facing operations, and needed a tool to engage with management teams to ensure a positive foundation to roll out the new programme.

Approach: We developed a game which encouraged structured discussion within local and regional management teams about the transformation programme.

Outcome: 100 copies of the game are now being used across the organisation.

DRUG ROUND GAME

Client: Beira Central Hospital, Mozambique

Issue: Reduce number of medication errors by improving staff awareness and competency.

Outcome: Beira’s lead pharmacist immediately saw how the game could help teach nurses about medication safety. “The training game was really good, because it opened the mind and so we will remember it always.”

THE DYSPHAGIA GAME: PROMOTING SAFER SWALLOWING

Client: NHS England and Nutricia

Issue: Dysphagia is a poorly understood medical condition, and our clients wanted to create a tool to help staff understand how to spot and manage it effectively.

Approach: We designed a The Dysphagia board game and accompanying online game, to increase awareness and improve education for healthcare staff.

Outcome: Feedback from players has been consistently positive. Studies to evaluate the game have concluded that it helps to improve knowledge and management of dysphagia.

FOOD MOOD & HEALTH - CASE STUDY

Client: Food For Thought, a programme created by Education Scotland, Scottish Government and Business in the Community in Scotland.

Issue: Food education can be embedded across the school curriculum, and with a third of 10-11 year olds overweight it’s time to think of new ways to get young people talking about food and health.

Approach: We visited St Helen’s Primary School to showcase The Food, Mood and Health Game, and show pupils and teachers how they can use a fun, educational board game to help children learn about healthy eating, body image, emotional health and media influence.

Outcome: 4 classes of around 20 pupils played and learned using the game. After playing, pupils demonstrated what they’d learned by creating campaign posters which showed a key message about health and wellbeing that they wanted to pass on to other pupils in the school.