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Doctors use video games to train

Somewhere in cyberspace, the streets are running red with blood — but the name of this game is mercy not mayhem.
/ Source: The Associated Press

Somewhere in cyberspace, the streets are running red with blood — but the name of this game is mercy not mayhem.

The health-care profession is increasingly turning to computer games for training.

One, called "Code Orange," helps doctors learn to manage mass casualty incidents where normal operations are suspended to deal with a large amount of patients.

"If you don't manage the situation properly, people are going to get missed," said Lucien Parsons, who produced the game for BreakAway Ltd.

Trainees can play a variety of management roles and deal with directing staff and monitoring supplies, he said.

Video games already have been found to improve marksmanship among military personnel, said Claudia Johnston, a Texas A&M-Corpus Christi researcher who is heading a Navy-funded project to develop a game to train doctors.

"If you can do that, why can't you learn to start an IV online," Johnston said.

The goal is to produce software that will allow civilian and military health care professionals to practice clinical skills in order to better respond to catastrophic incidents, such as bioterrorism.