The realities of working in a pressurised Emergency Department have been brought to life in an innovative new board game called The Floor.
The game was developed by Dr Salwa Malik an Emergency Medicine consultant at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (BSUH) and is designed to simulate the fast-paced nature of an accident and emergency floor.
Salwa invented the game as a registrar in 2015 to help with a mock Major Incident day for Higher Specialist Trainees but after recognising the potential of it as a training tool she developed the concept further adding dice, coin tosses and more to add to the enjoyment of playing The Floor. Funding to develop the game came from the BSUH Charity and the kind donations of its supporters.
The resulting game is a sophisticated training tool to be used by multi-disciplinary teams that will help develop skills, share knowledge and ultimately improve performance and safety within an Emergency Department. Each game takes approximately 90 minutes and can be played with up to 12 people. It has been developed to be used time and again with each game presenting unique challenges. It has been played and tested in a range of organisations and is formally part of the teaching and training programme for junior doctors at BSUH.
Salwa said: “I’m very excited to see The Floor launched to other hospital trusts and to know that others will now be able to benefit from the training opportunities it offers. The feedback I have had when introducing the game to new players has been overwhelming and the way in which it brings teams together in a lively way to work through issues and share perspectives is fantastic and exactly what I hoped it would do.”
Dame Marianne Griffiths, Chief Executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust and Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We are so proud of Salwa and all that she has achieved with designing and launching a game that will help many emergency departments around the UK, and wider. I’ve played the game and it is a real rollercoaster simulating the real-life difficulties and challenges faced by those working in A&E. All operational staff should play this!”
More information can be found at www.thefloorgame.com
