Asteroids® and Electrocardiograms: Proof of Concept of a Simulation for Task-Switching Training

INTRODUCTION: Emergency physicians are interrupted during patient care with such tasks as reading electrocardiograms (ECGs). This phenomenon is known as task-switching which may be a teachable skill. Our objective was to evaluate the potential of a video game for simulating the cognitive demands req...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aziz, Farhad, Yeh, Bryan, Emerson, Geremiha, Way, David P., San Miguel, Christopher, King, Andrew M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of California, Irvine School of Medicine 2019
Materias:
Original Research
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6324701/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30643608
http://dx.doi.org/10.5811/westjem.2018.10.39722
Descripción
Sumario:INTRODUCTION: Emergency physicians are interrupted during patient care with such tasks as reading electrocardiograms (ECGs). This phenomenon is known as task-switching which may be a teachable skill. Our objective was to evaluate the potential of a video game for simulating the cognitive demands required of task-switching. METHODS: Emergency medicine residents took a pretest on ECG interpretation and then a posttest while attending to a video game, Asteroids®. RESULTS: The 35 residents (63%) who participated, scored worse on the ECG posttest then they did on the pretest (p<.001; effect size=1.14). There were no differences between genders or training level. CONCLUSION: Interpreting ECGs while playing the Asteroids® game significantly lowered ECG interpretation scores. This shows the potential of this activity for training residents in task-switching ability. The next phase of research will test whether ECG reading performance while task-switching improves with practice.

Ejemplares similares