Applying Gamification and Virtual Reality to an MRSA Infection Control Guideline

Abstract

MRSA is a group of harmful bacteria with resistance to many important antibiotics. Infections are hard to treat and often result in prolonged hospital stays, leading to increased costs and mortality. Like with many other bacteria and diseases, healthcare practitioners follow carefully developed clinical practice guidelines on how to test for and handle occurrences. In this thesis, we present an experimental study on applying gamification principles to transform an MRSA infection control guideline into a virtual reality game. Our approach consists of designing and developing a fully functional game, describing our process and outlining the challenges associated with this. We also set out to find out how VR and gamification affect practitioner motivation through user testing. Throughout development, we discovered challenges with transforming the guideline into a game that can be used nationally while fully retaining its content. We also found that applying gamification while still staying true to the clinical practice guideline was a difficult balancing act.