Role: Design of simulation mechanics, graphic design, illustration, copyediting
Project themes: medical simulation, neonatal intensive care medicine
Timeline: October 2019 - May 2020
Partners: Dr. Georg Shmolzer (neonatalogist), Patrick Von Hauff, Thomas Jeffery,
Cody Wesley
Cody Wesley
Photography of table-top simulator by Thomas Jeffery
In the Fall of 2019, I had a design position at the University of Alberta’s Faculty of Medicine, and one of the projects I had the pleasure of working on was Retain. I had a blast working with a neonatalogist, two senior designers, one other junior designer to bring a prototype of the board game to market. I learned a lot about product strategy, and launch, website development hand-off, and design systems. You can checkout Retain here.
Neonatal Resuscitation
Every 1 in 10 babies need help breathing at birth.
Some babies may need very basic intervention to help start their breathing, such as keeping them warm and drying them with a towel. In other cases, more medical intervention is necessary such as intubation, chest compressions, or administering medication.
Resuscitating newborn and pre-term neonates is a high acuity skill, but is often difficult for health care practitioners to practice. This is because it may not happen often at their hospital, and simulation sessions using manikins (a model of the human body that can simulate physiological functions) and utilizing scarce equipment are very expensive to run.
A typical simulation environment. Photography by Cody Wesley
RETAIN Table-top Simulator allows for people to practice the steps of neonatal resuscitation. The goal of this simulator is not to learn physical/technical tasks, but instead to help team members practice communication, cooperation, delegation and leadership under uncertain situations. Players work together as a team to move through the phases of resuscitation, using Action cards and Supply Pieces to simulate the necessary steps for each unique scenario.
Unboxing video featuring Georg Shmolzer, lead Neonatalogist on the project. Filming & editing by Thomas Jeffery
RETAIN was initially created as an alpha prototype by Dr. Georg Shmolzer (Neonatologist), Patrick Von Hauff (Designer) and Thomas Jeffery (Designer) in 2017.
Myself and Cody Wesley (Designer) joined their team in 2019.
For the project, I was responsible for helping to bring RETAIN to become a market-ready product. This included strategizing the game play and simulation mechanics, writing the Instructions and Facilitator's manuals, as well as layout and illustrations for game piece elements.
RETAIN is now available for purchase through GameCrafter: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/retain-neonatal-resuscitation
Visit the Retain website to learn more information about the project: https://www.playretain.com/