Online Educa Berlin 2005

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Online Educa Berlin 2005
GIMMICS How to organize, manage and control
a pharmacy practice game
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Speakers
Prof.dr. Jos van der Werf University of
Groningen Professor in Pharmacy Business
Administration j.j.van.der.werf_at_rug.nl
ir. Aaldrik Sillius University of
Groningen Educational Technologist a.w.sillius_at_rug
.nl
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GIMMICSPharmacy Practice Game
Outline of the presentation- GIMMICS
organization / management / control- experiences
with GIMMICS (1998-2002) - an emerging problem
in controlling GIMMICS (2003) - how we tackled
this problem (2004-2005)- lessons learnt
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GIMMICS starting point
Considerations at the outset 1) develop
teaching provision to bring pharmacy practice
into the educational setting
2) a game is a good choice for such a
provision - games create a rich educational
setting - which is a prerequisite for teaching
academic skills
3) the game must be as close to real life as
possible - use real experts from the health care
field - use actors
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Game setting physical
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
Room 4
Room 5
3rd floor
Headquarters
ground floor
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Game setting communication
Room 1
Room 2
Room 3
Room 4
Room 5
3rd floor
Headquarters
ground floor
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Game setting in time (1/2)
Week 1 students prepare for the game-
familiarize with setting in Pill Village -
virtual village - define pharmacy policy -
guidance for the rest of the game! - set up
documentation system- familiarize with pharmacy
computer system- divide roles - 1st/2nd
pharmacist, pharmacy assistants
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Game setting in time (2/2)
Weeks 2,3,4 Students the game is on! -
full responsibility for running their pharmacy-
game management start providing assignments-
each pharmacy starts with 8000 (virtual)
patients- if pharmacies do well, they gain
patients- if not, .. Last day of the game-
the team with the highest number of patients is
the winner
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Assignments 4 categories
Routine
Long term
Ad-hoc
Self-defined projects
specialize on - polypharmacy
- the elderly - travel take over other
pharmacy cooperate with other pharmacy
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Assessment procedure (1/2)
Assessment of assignments- each assignment is
assessed - assessment based on - solid
evidence (processing of prescriptions) -
on-the-job observations (e.g. during meetings) -
feedback of actors/actressesOutcome of
assessment- either gain or loose a number of
patients
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Assessment procedure (2/2)
Now this may come as a surprise .
Outcomes of assessments are not explained !!! -
students have to reflect on their own actions -
as an individual - as a team In practice -
difficult at first, both for students and teachers
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Experiences with GIMMICS (1/2)
1998-2002 students state that playing GIMMICS .
- is great fun- makes them more prepared for
their next internships- invokes them to reflect
on their own actions- invokes them to integrate
knowledge and skills they have acquired over the
past few years
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Experiences with GIMMICS (2/2)
Other universities followed our
lead University of Utrecht Faculty of
Pharmacy (have introduced GIMMICS in
2004) University of Brussels Faculty
of Pharmacy (will introduce GIMMICS early
2006)
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An emerging problem (2003)
External experts and actors- are invited to
supply case material from their own practice
Pros- case material is up-to-date, realistic-
keeps game dynamic- keeps students and experts
motivated
Consnumber of game interactions ? gt
information load ? gt workload ? gt number of
mistakes ?
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Analysis of game setting
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Any solutions? (1/2)
Solution 1 take action- impose standards on
case material Outcome- external experts will
loose motivation and leave- game setting will
become poor
Solution 2 take no action- Mistakes will
happenOutcome - external experts will become
discomforted and leave- game setting will become
poor
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Any solutions? (2/2)
Solution 3 - reduce the workload / information
overload of the game managementHow- identify
game activities that are time consuming - select
those activities that can be - foreseen - put
in your own time schedule - facilitated through
the use of ICT
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Activity 1 (1/6)
Activity 1 planning and documentation of
agendas of external experts and actors-
concerning long term assignments Is health
care expert X available at day D? - concerning
ad-hoc assignments Can actor A play role R in
case C at day D?
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Activity 1 (2/6)
Solution Actor Registration System - internet
application- after registration, experts/actors
provide info on - contact information - actor
profile - availablility- game management use
this info to - schedule assignments
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ARS login screen (3/6)
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ARS actor profile (4/6)
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ARS actor availability (5/6)
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ARS selecting an actor (6/6)
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Activity 2 (1/4)
Activity 2 storage and retrieval of case
material- case material from external experts /
actors- digitally stored, but never
processedProblems- troublesome retrieval
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Activity 2 (2/4)
Solution Case Management System - internet
application- cases are described and stored in
a structured format- meta-information is added
- retrieval made easy - possibility to share
cases (-gtGroningen/Utrecht )
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CAMS login screen (3/4)
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CAMS editing a case (4/4)

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Activity 3 (1/4)
Activity 3 transfer of knowledge from game
management (GM) to student assistants (SA)- SA
support GM throughout the game- GM are experts
in running the game- SA are novices- GM must
transfer (implicit) game knowledge - facts,
descriptions, criteria, manuals, procedures, -
rules of thumb, strategies
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Activity 3 (2/4)
Solution build a GIMMICS Knowledge Base- make
implicit game knowledge explicit - using
techniques from knowledge engineering - describe
knowledge as task models - task models are
hierarchic by nature- put hierarchy of task
models into digital form- make them available to
student assistants
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GKB a (partial) task model (3/4)
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GKB an elementary task (4/4)
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ARS/CAMS/GKB experiences
Built- ARS (2004), CAMS (2004), GKB
(2005)Used- in several game rounds in
Groningen/UtrechtGame management state - very
useful tools in reducing workload - while
preparing for the game - while running the
game- Yes .... lets think of new initiatives
in the game
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Lessons learnt (1/2)
1) Starting premisseA game with a rich setting
creates an appropriate educational environment
for learning academic skills
2) Inevitable chain of events richness of game
setting ? gt number of game interactions ? gt
workload ? gt mistakes ?
3) Imposing standards is not an option number of
standards ? gt richness ? gt motivation of all
game participants ?
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Lessons learnt (2/2)
4) There are better ways to reduce workload-
carefully analyze all game interactions -
identify time-consuming activities - select
those that can be - foreseen - put in your
own time schedule - facilitated through ICT