Development and evaluation of a serious game for training patient-physician communication

Training communication with patients is an important aspect of medical education around the world. The general complexity of communication and specifically communication with patients can be practiced with actors. However, access to this training method is restricted by limited availability of actors, complex organization of time schedules, and the need of physical training space. Our work explores the benefits of using a serious game for training patient-physician communication. The game implements the SPIKES communication model to efficiently and effectively structure such conversations. SPIKES is used for example to deliver bad news or inform patients about medical treatment plans. This paper presents the results of a first study with medical students evaluating acceptance and the educational benefit of the game as part of the communication training.