The healing power of video games

[img1]Home illness management could become as easy as turning on a game console or cell phone with technology being developed by a UW medical professor.

Harborview's Harold Goldberg has teamed with Nintendo of America, Microsoft and four other companies to create a doctor-patient medical interface for cell phones and the Nintendo GameCube.

The interface will help adolescent patients with diabetes care for themselves by reminding them to take their insulin, quizzing them on health issues, letting them view their medical records and transmitting their blood sugar and blood pressure readings to their doctors. The doctors can then give the patients regular advice on how to improve their habits, which could arrive in the form of a text message on a cell phone.

"The logic is, 'If that's how kids communicate, don't fight them -- join them,'" Goldberg said.

The interfaces can potentially be very useful in treating a growing pandemic of juvenile diabetes, said Irl Hirsch, director of the UW Medical Center's Diabetes Care Center and a consultant on the project.

One out of every three children born five years ago will become diabetic, according to the National Center for Disease Control. The only ways children can avoid developing Type 2 diabetes is to eat moderately and get exercise -- things patients have to do for themselves.

"This particular idea is unique because it is utilizing technology kids can relate to," Hirsch said. "We're dealing with state of the art tools from both Microsoft and Nintendo that can keep this fun."

Existing hospital systems are best at treating acute illnesses, Goldberg said, and don't always serve the needs of people with chronic illnesses like diabetes.

[img2]"Chronic illness treatment is basically about behaviors you have to change every day," Goldberg said. "You can't get everything you need in four 15-minute doctor visits a year. It's more about lifestyle and prevention."

The average diabetes patient checks their blood sugar levels about four times annually, Goldberg said -- right before they go to see their doctor.

"The idea is, how can you reach out to your patients every day, receive their blood pressure readings and interact with them in real time?" Goldberg said.

For Nintendo, developing products to help the ill and people with disabilities is nothing new.

In the past, the company has produced hands-free controllers and Game Boys that respond to voice commands, and also created systems for bed-ridden patients to play video games in their hospital rooms.

"Providing products like these to those with disabilities is something we have kept in mind when making many of our products," said Perrin Kaplan, Nintendo's vice president for marketing and corporate affairs. "We have received hundreds of reactions -- all positive -- over the years where it has really helped patients and their families."

Reach Daily reporter Melissa Santos at [url='mailto:melissasantos@thedaily.washington.edu']melissasantos@thedaily.washington.edu[/url]