A young intern faces a first-time patient complaining of tingling, dizziness and feeling unusually tired.
The 35-year-old man could have multiple sclerosis, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder or several other conditions affecting the central nervous system. The intern asks questions and consults test results, needing to make the right diagnosis.
Concerned and curious, he turns to the nurse and attending physician, with their heads shaped like blocks.
They’re not in a hospital. This is all part of a pre-med class at the University of Texas at Dallas that uses the computer game Minecraft.
The class is Experiential Medical Reasoning, designed to help these students like22 year old Sahar Bavandi pass the MCAT, the test needed for acceptance into medical school.
Even though Bavandi had never played Minecraft before, she adapted rapidly and likes it. She said the game has helped her visualize hospital settings, equipment and people that she would otherwise not be familiar with.
“We have this patient in the ICU with the symptoms. What do we need?” Bavandi said, as she demonstrates the game. “And because of the game I remembered that we need, like, an oxygen mask or other things.”
Pre-med students don’t spend time in hospitals as part of their education. This virtual Minecraft hospital helps supplement that.
Bavandi said the game also helps remind her about specialized equipment.
“You have to use the devices,”Bavandi said. “So whenever we talk about a hematology analyzer, what's that? Because you've been doing it, that's how you remember it."
The teacher here, Dr. Eric Kildebeck, helped create the course with colleagues.
“We built a virtual hospital in Minecraft, and the students can go in and make diagnostic decisions for patients, run lab tests, things like that,” he said. "Until you're actually there, exposed to stuff, you don't really know what it is because you're not allowed to go into the hospital and care for patients.” Kildebeck said.
He said this game takes pre-med students into a virtual hospital for a more realistic sense of a physician’s life and duties in a medical facility. The visit includes tasks doctors must perform to properly diagnose patients.
It’s helped student Omar Choudhry. The 24-year-old took to the game easily, having played Minecraft as a teenager. He’s learned about correct diagnosing based partly on this game.
Choudhry logs into this hospital version of Minecraft and faces a virtual hospital patent with multiple sclerosis.
“There are going to be questions related to that. Now, if I were to get a question wrong, it's going to tell me why it's wrong and give me an explanation for that,” said Choudhry. “And then it's going to tell me why the wrong ones were wrong to begin with, and give the correct version of that.”
Choudhry said this method builds his knowledge and isn’t as punishing as an exam. If he needs to repeat a lesson, he can – and sometimes does.
“You can actually learn from it,” Choudhry said. “It tells me tells me exactly what I did wrong.”
Choudhry hopes that will help him get answers right on the MCAT. He takes the test in two weeks.
Kildebeck said even in this class’s first year, he’s seen students benefit.
“They do great on the tests,”Kildebeck said.
Next up – he and his colleagues are working on another Minecraft games focusing on biology and chemistry.
Bill Zeeble is KERA’s education reporter. Got a tip? Email Bill at bzeeble@kera.org. You can follow him on X @bzeeble.
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