A Saudi nurse, Abdullah Alosaimi, has developed an interactive game to aid his peers in the healthcare field to perfect their skills.
The Jeddah based nurse’s “Syringe and Pandemic” game asks players to locate a syringe in order to administer medicine to save a patient in an operating theatre.
Alosaimi conveyed that a number of health organizations all over the world had struggled with medical staff shortages in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic. “The idea of the immersive VR [virtual reality] game came to me after seeing the shortage of nursing staff in the healthcare sector, which is not only a national issue but a global issue,” he said.
The Saudi nurse had initially begun to work on his concept with the support of an Ithra Creative Solutions team in 2022. He added, “By employing this immersive technology, we can address this global challenge in this healthcare sector and attract teens to join the … industry. I’m looking to take this project forward and grow it by developing it with other studios experts.”
Each of the Ithra participants received a grant from the Host Unity Centre of Excellence and the shortlist of 10 candidates was chosen by Emmy-winning creative director Kim-Leigh Pontin and Anne McKinnon, co-founder and chief executive of metaverse platform Ristband.
Head of creativity and innovation at Ithra, Miznah Al Zamil, relayed that the goal was to “create meaningful cultural content that represents the kingdom internationally.” She said, “The projects truly are a global showcase of Saudi innovation.”
Eight in 10 submissions had been submitted by young Saudi women. Al Zamil said, “We empower talent and a lot of people — men and women — worked together to get the projects done and we highlighted the lead in the projects.”
At the event, Nick Rosa, author of Understanding the Metaverse, conveyed that the metaverse would alter people’s understand of reality, and that “Saudi Arabia is at the front and center [of initiatives] to change the world.” Creative Solutions is a year-round programme open to citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia. Participants can pitch for projects for the 2023 programme, which runs until April 13th 2023, at www.ithra.com
