Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I was shown some e learning materials produced by the BMJ by a colleague who works as a cancer
nurse and it was really unengaging, it was very flat and it was pure text and because
you were sitting down to early signs of cancer you were pump primed as to what is was.
So as a radiographer, which I am, it was easy just to pass it without giving it any thought
so I was thinking why not try and simulate a GPs surgery, have a focus on early signs
of cancer but actually throw a few placebos in as well so that the outcome is not a foregone
conclusion. So we developed a mock up and took this to
the local cancer network services and they were impressed with that and we therefore
developed a pilot from there. The idea is to provide multiple media that the doctor
can engage with so getting away from that pure flat two dimensional text based learning.
So you've got the talking avatar to represent the patient, you can tap into and open files
which replicate patient notes so if you want to have a look at previous history you can.
Some of the cases have got test reports on there so it might be X-rays, it might be blood
tests. So all the sort of stuff and information that a GP would have available were you and
I to go and sit in front of them and say I've got a problem effectively we've reproduced
within this tool so that they can access those things to help make decisions.
Thanks Doc -- Good to see you too. Look I don't want to take up too much of your time
but it's the old back playing up again. I was hoping for some stronger pain killers
if that's OK. So from that you sort of engage in a game
style conversation with the patient and you are given a number of options to how you would
like to respond to what he's just said. Let's take the middle option here. So you just say
'How's life on the farm?' So so, it's a tough world out there now with
all the big supermarkets squeezing us for every penny.
And again you are given some options on how that conversation would then develop and you
choose and off you go and if we keep with the middle one you would then respond by saying
'Sorry to hear that Mr Huxtable. Tell me more about your back pain. Where is it hurting?'
Oh it's really playing me up at the moment. Right in the middle of my back. Agh right
there. You must remember, it's on the computer -- I had back pain a few years ago.
And that's how it's done, you have a conversation -- it runs for ten minutes or so. In addition
to that on this panel over here you have access to additional medical information and so here
is the patient's medical record and it is quite possible to go through these cases without
picking up on the cancer. This guy's got fractured vertebrae I seem to recall rather than any
specific cancer. The idea is to get the message across that these resources are available
in terms of risk assessment tools and when you should be two week late referring and
things and I think the GPs like it. We've got a very good animator working in
the office just down the corridor and this is done using a real actor, one of my colleagues,
and an X box connect - so the thing that detects real motion. And what it has done is it's
mapped to features on her face and then as you will see when the video plays out what
happens is it's transferred across to a model He's really sedated. I can't seem to rouse
him. What did you give him? Well I gave him Purim Narazapan yes it was prescribed by the
doctor so I just gave him what the doctor prescribed him.
So that's then mapped in to an avatar Yeah, yeah of course I did, I did check that,
I mean the ward was really busy but I wouldn't have given him his meds, I did actually check
that he had had his regular dose...Yeah...no I definitely checked his regular dose and
he told me he hadn't had it so yeah no yeah it's fine.
Clearly lying through her teeth! And that's an example of how we do that and then it ends
up as a video clip which we can import into the player and run it as
you've seen in the scenarios. We are in conversation with the Royal College
of GPs to get it hosted on their website but also we have interest from MacMillan who are
looking to take this work forward so we are trying to find a platform that actually will
continue with the work because certainly the feeling from the cancer network and ourselves
is that the data we've got back in from the evaluation is that it is a good thing. It's
fun to do, it's a relatively short piece of work but is actually useful to practice
so it's a question of trying to find somewhere to take it forward so that as many GPs as
possible get to see it.