Digital inclusion – games with obstacles. In an exciting practice experience, the Master cohort of the part-time Digital Health programme tested digital therapy concepts under physical impairments. Under realistic conditions that simulated typical physical limitations, the students explored in the ukb brain cloud 1.0 at Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin (ukb) how suitable digital health solutions actually are in everyday life.
With an arm in a sling, a heavy lead vest, restricted vision or on unstable ground, the students tested various video games. The goal of this exercise was to recognise barriers and weak points in the use of digital technologies and develop awareness of the special requirements of people with physical impairments.
At the centre stood the question: how inclusive and user-friendly can digital games be designed with the help of Extended Reality? The test in the ukb brain cloud 1.0 brought important insights – it became clear that many of these applications still need adjustments to meet the needs of all.
With Prof. Dr. med. Ingo Schmehl, Director of the Neurology Clinic at BG Klinikum Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin and Professor of Digital Health in the Faculty of Medicine at IB Hochschule, we spoke about the backgrounds of this task.
Mr Schmehl, what is the theory that was taught beforehand, and what do we now see in practical implementation? – First, the students took part in a neurological visit in the area of neurological early rehabilitation. We discussed together functional disorders such as vision disorders, hearing disorders, paralysis, attention disorders, memory disorders after moderate to severe head injuries. This was to ensure that all professions recognise patients' problems and limitations live.
Why do the students do this and what use does it have? – After the clinical visit, students got the opportunity to re-experience patients' functional disorders/impairments with aids using gamification. Vision impairments via eye patch, hearing impairments via earplugs, balance disorders via foam mat, paralysis via arm bandage, and also increased physical strain via X-ray lead vest were simulated. Through this self-experience, the task now is for the students to research digital technologies online and assign suitable applications in the digital sector to the corresponding functional disorder. The examination takes place not only according to clinical aspects, but also according to data protection aspects, financing and feasibility.
What is meant by digital inclusion, and which conclusions do you draw from this exercise? – Digital inclusion means, from my perspective, designing hardware and software components in digital therapy in such a way that patients with mental or physical impairments/functional disorders are individually able, like healthy people, to use them in everyday life unproblematically. However, despite a very large gamer market, this is not yet sufficiently the case in the area of digital therapy in healthcare.
This exercise in digital inclusion has not only sharpened students' awareness of the challenges and chances of digital therapies, but also delivered valuable impulses for the development of future applications. The insights underline that true inclusion is only achieved when digital health solutions are flexibly enough designed to meet users' different capabilities and needs.
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