AI+Hospital arose from the ambition to embed data-driven work in the DNA of the UMCG. This starts with knowledge: what is artificial intelligence, what can you do with it and what are its consequences? Van Ooijen: "To support healthcare professionals in this, we developed a curriculum called AIProHealth, which in addition to the technical aspects also focuses on the ethical, legal and social aspects of AI in healthcare. That course is available online via FutureLearn and is already well used: currently by some 2250 people worldwide. We wanted to add something extra to it - a physical component that helps people to start actively using theoretical knowledge from the course and practicing it together. The board game is a first outcome of this.'
'With serious games, people often immediately think of something digital, but our experience is that analog games in particular are very effective when the goal is to engage in conversation,' says Bas Altenburg, game designer at 8D Games. 'AI+Hospital is basically a role-playing game. The players go through a fictitious patient journey together and face a choice about the use of AI at each step. There is no definite 'right' or 'wrong' - the point is that players learn to make a balanced choice, taking into account the wishes of the patient, the various professionals and the ethical and legal aspects that come into play. This is a very instructive and constructive experience. In this case even more so because the textual content of the cards has been very carefully compiled by the experts at the UMCG and the discussion connects to the themes from the curriculum.'
The game is currently being used at a variety of conferences and symposiums. Van Ooijen: 'It is most fun when there is a mix of people at the table, people with different professions and knowledge levels. That really livens up the discussion.' Data scientist Eline Meijer regularly supervises the sessions and sees that people are surprised by the format: 'It's fun to see how people are a bit skeptical or uncertain at first, but after the first round they go wild. It sometimes happens that they get into a discussion with the game leader because they think their choice should score more points, or that people want to continue after the game time ends because they are too curious about how it ends with the fictitious patient. Then you know the goal has been achieved; AI in healthcare is on the map.
The success of board game AI+Hospital sparks creativity and enthusiasm at DASH, but also raises all sorts of new questions about the sequel. Bart Scheerder, business developer at UMCG: "This game form - using a patient journey as the basis for a discussion about choices made during the process - can be translated to all kinds of other subjects and specific patient journeys. But we, as a knowledge institute, are not interested in profit. However, it is up to us to take the generated knowledge and content further and thus continue to build communities around AI in healthcare. For example, we are planning to provide a live variant at the HTRIC congress on June 16: AI+Hospital XL, in which we will translate dilemmas from the game to the stage and thus be able to bring a larger audience into the discourse on AI in healthcare.'
AIProHealth (Practical Artificial Intelligence for Healthcare Professionals) is a large international consortium, funded by a grant from EIT Health, in which experts are jointly developing a customizable AI learning environment with various learning modules. As part of this, a massive open online course (MOOC) and a Face2Face course with this serious game as the main aspect have already been developed. In the fall of 2023, this will be expanded to include winter and summer courses in Tartu and Groningen. For more information, contact [email protected].
8D Games develops serious games - both digital and analog - that are used in healthcare and education. In collaboration with the UMCG, they previously developed the Skating Game, an exergame that allows elderly people to train their balance in an enjoyable way. For more information about game development and the possibilities of gaming in healthcare, contact [email protected].
