A Serious Game for On-the-Ward Infection Control Awareness Training

Healthcare associated infections represent a major ongoing cost to health services. This chapter reviews the development and deployment of Ward Off Infection, a serious game targeted at improving infection control practices of nurses in on-the-ward training. The game was deployed in 2009 across 13 hospital wards within the UK. As limited usage of the game precluded attempts to consider its efficacy though pre and post-survey, this chapter focuses upon the key issues surrounding this low uptake. Relating these more generally to the deployment of serious games in healthcare, a potential link is observed between the presence of training professionals and usage of the game, as well as strong overriding perceptions of the medium and training objectives by users. The findings demonstrate the challenges associated with enacting effective behavioural and attitudinal change through a serious game deployed in an on the ward context, particularly with respect to stimulating high levels of perceived usefulness. Hence, the authors reflect on key lessons learned in the development and deployment of Ward Off Infection, and relate their findings to other studies of serious games in healthcare, identifying the context in which a game is deployed to be a critical development consideration.