VHA SimLEARN
Three Educational Gaming Products Now Available on Your Mobile Device
By Gerald Sonnenberg
EES Marketing and Communication
ORLANDO - The VHA Employee Education System (EES) provides a wide variety of educational courses and tools that help VA staff provide exceptional care for our Veteran patients. Health care game-based learning is growing as one of those educational resources. Now three of those applications are available on your mobile device through the VA App Catalog. The first to be added to the catalog was the award-winning health care game-based learning product called Difficult Airway Algorithm and Rescue Cricothyrotomy or DAARC. In addition, the game-based learning products Charge Nurse and Medical Surgical Nurse or “MedSurg” are now part of the VA App Catalog.
All three applications were developed specifically by the EES eLearning Division in conjunction with subject matter experts. DAARC is designed to train health care staff to safely practice decision-making and step-by-step procedures necessary for response to difficult or obstructed airway scenarios in or out of an operating or emergency room. Learners who “play” the game on their PC or an iPad or iPhone application receive continuing medical education credits.
The Charge Nurse Activities in Leadership and Management (CALM) educational game is designed to provide professional medical and health care providers iterative leadership, management, administrative, educational and clinical skills experiential learning. It is intended to improve the novice and expert charge nurses' efficiency and effectiveness. CALM provides an engaging learning experience for nurse leaders who supervise, evaluate, support and mentor a nursing staff while maintaining a high level of patient care.
The Medical Surgical Nurse game-based learning system provides scenarios and the opportunity for the learner to develop awareness and appreciation of a deteriorating patient's post-operative condition. The tool permits the “player” to practice using diagnostic knowledge and skills to identify the patient’s worsening condition in a timely manner to prevent a medical emergency code event.
The game-based learning applications in the VA App Catalog are also available in the Talent Management System (TMS) to gain continuing educational credits from a variety of professional sources. The learning products are also available via VHA TRAIN, and there is also iTunes access for MedSurg, Charge Nurse and DAARC.
If you have questions, please email Leslie Dubow, EES associate director for eLearning.
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