Night Shift | How a Video Game is Changing Trauma Triage

[{"content":{"text":" Ever wonder if video games could make a difference in the real world, beyond entertainment? What if playing a game could literally help with medical decisions and life-saving care? A recent study published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Network Open suggests exactly that, with fascinating implications for emergency medicine. The research focused on Night Shift , a video game developed by Schell Games in partnership with Dr. Deepika Mohan. The game is specifically designed to help doctors at non-trauma centers improve their ability to quickly and accurately assess seriously injured patients. Think about it: in a chaotic emergency room, every second counts. Doctors need to make split-second decisions about whether a patient needs to be transferred to a specialized trauma center. This is called triage, and getting it wrong can have serious consequences. And it's exactly the skill Night Shift was built to train. "},"id":"e35c4194-cb5d-42e3-99ce-ff05da0454b2","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ivyf5oGpNE8","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"25bc10a0-a338-437d-89d4-4a27c4960f3f","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":" Origins and Goals of Night Shift ","customid":""},"id":"06fab478-2c94-4fd3-abe3-fb2a0e3a8d10","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Projects like Night Shift start with exceptional clients. The impetus for Night Shift started with Dr. Deepika Mohan , a trauma surgeon and associate professor at University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, who approached us to help her develop a game with the end goal of improving physician decision-making. She procured the funding for this project and partnered with Schell Games to develop the initial game and subsequent updates. Night Shift wasn't just for fun; it was designed to subtly retrain doctors' instincts \u2013 what the researchers called \"heuristics.\" Instead of bombarding them with facts, the game used immersive narratives and in-game feedback to help physicians recognize severe injuries more effectively and become more willing to transfer patients when needed. "},"id":"773ce79d-8d90-4237-8fc6-0c786ba38308","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"location":"kirby","image":["file:\/\/29nxdex80ooam9ao"],"src":"","alt":"Screenshot of Night Shift showing a doctor assessing a patient's vitals","caption":"","link":"","ratio":"","crop":"false"},"id":"252468ce-d853-4357-b1bc-01e2ad5cfa33","isHidden":false,"type":"imageBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":" Set Up & Trial Results ","customid":""},"id":"c6063bf7-a354-4629-80dc-5fafe1abd78c","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Dr. Mohan's most recent study involved 800 physicians across the US, with 400 playing Night Shift to complete as an intervention and the remaining 400 serving as a control group. Completion of Night Shift took about two hours. The large, diverse cohort included physicians from 40% of all emergency departments in the United States, adding to confidence in the results. The key findings were pretty exciting: "},"id":"d11a8751-7cc3-4880-958b-a5fccf75b91d","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"text":" Better Decisions: Doctors who played Night Shift significantly reduced undertriage, meaning fewer severely injured patients were mistakenly kept at a non-trauma center when they should have been transferred A Shift in Mindset: The game actually had a greater impact on doctors' willingness to transfer patients (their \"decisional threshold\") than on their pure ability to recognize severe injuries (their \"perceptual sensitivity\"). This suggests the game helped them feel more confident and proactive in making those critical transfer decisions Almost Everyone Benefits: The study found that the game was largely beneficial for most doctors, with only minor differences based on factors like age or gender. Interestingly, busier physicians (those working 10+ shifts a month) showed an even greater improvement, possibly because they have less time for traditional training "},"id":"ae0161e9-d505-4b0c-986c-4ab0270b636c","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"},{"content":{"location":"web","url":"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=wif_Xe6pEFg","video":[],"poster":[],"caption":"","autoplay":"false","muted":"true","loop":"false","controls":"true","preload":"auto"},"id":"0083b03e-0ccb-4921-a147-561b0c96987b","isHidden":false,"type":"videoBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h2","text":" Why This Matters ","customid":""},"id":"0444acfa-91c4-493f-b970-c47f6f25a047","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" This study highlights the incredible potential of educational video games as powerful, transformational tools for professional development in healthcare. Night Shift offers an innovative, engaging, and interactive way for doctors to refine their skills and make better decisions under pressure. It's a fantastic example of how innovative approaches can support existing medical education efforts and ultimately, improve patient care. Night Shift is the perfect example of how ideas become reality for our clients. Dr. Mohan came to us with this idea, intense passion and a wealth of knowledge. We helped make it a reality, all while emphasizing commitment to our mission statement of creating experiences we're proud of with people we like so we can make the world a better place. "},"id":"1d346026-2a2e-43e9-8cc3-119d29b2edb9","isHidden":false,"type":"textBlock"},{"content":{"level":"h3","text":"More Reading","customid":""},"id":"8fabf52d-da03-4ca4-b3d7-064accddb4cd","isHidden":false,"type":"headingBlock"},{"content":{"text":" You can dive deeper into the full research paper here: 2025 Night Shift RCT . Of note, this article is Schell Games\u2019 2nd feature in JAMA (here's the first ). "},"id":"87cbaf6e-b334-4527-91dc-c9584e11c94d","isHidden":false,"type":"listBlock"}]