Arup Roy-Burman
University of California San Francisco, USA
Title: Frontline Engagement through Social Gamification: Reducing Healthcare-Associated Conditions—and Having Fun!
Biography
Biography: Arup Roy-Burman
Abstract
Hospitals are dangerous. The US healthcare industry wastes over $200 billion dollars annually in failed attempts to optimize care. Medical errors cause over 440,000 deaths.rnWhy? Best Practice Standards are NOT standard practice. Current technological solutions focus on the centuries-old dyad of doctor and patient, neglecting a key gap: Our frontline staff-- nurses, therapists, pharmacists-- who actually deliver care. The frontlines are lost in a system of accelerating complexity and encumbered by traditional professional silos-- with technology more a barrier than an enabler.rnrnAt UCSF, we are developing a mobile workforce solution to engage frontline staff in generating, learning, and adhering to best practices. Smart incentives, gamified learning and just-in-time tutorials — selected and created by the frontlines to meet their unit’s needs— work together to decrease hospital-acquired conditions and increase patient satisfaction. We deployed our prototype in pediatric BMT, Heme-Onc, and ICU, aiming to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI)-- a costly, dangerous problem at all hospitals, though one addressable by adherence to best practices -- if only staff could be incentivized to rigorously master the standards of care.rnrnMotivated by fun, software-based contests with real-world recognition and prizes, nurses engaged. The result: CLABSI was cut by 48%, with an estimated savings of 3 lives, over 300 hospital days, and $1M USD. With continued development and broad adoption, this platform will not only enhance internal outcomes, but can also drive inter-institutional sharing of practice standards and previously siloed internal improvements, elevating healthcare quality worldwide.rn