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Created by Sandi Tschritter
[email protected]
Picture design by M. Randall
OVERVIEW
Jim and Jill’s father, Frank, a pharmacist, opened a family pharmacy. Jim and Jill are
pharmacy technicians who have recently graduated from a pharmacy technician program.
Their father wants to teach the twins the family business. Since they are both technicians,
they won’t be able to run the business on their own; however, the twins plan on going on
the pharmacy school.
This is a time management, PC game, in which the player or players interact with several
different characters. On the community or retail pharmacy level, the characters include; an
angry customer, a medically challenged customer, a customer without insurance, an elderly
customer, and a customer with a forged prescription. For the hospital level the characters
symbolize a nurse, a prescriber (a professional who has the authority to write
prescriptions), a co-worker, a pharmacy technician supervisor, and a pharmacist.
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVE
The objective of the game is to teach the student(s) to multi-task. This game will be a
learning tool to assist the technicians in mastering the skills needed to perform their jobs for
community or retail as well as hospital pharmacy settings.
INSTRUCTIONAL OBJECTIVES ALIGNMENT
The pharmacy profession is a field of practice that can’t afford any errors. A wrong dosage,
wrong medication, or wrong amount can cause permanent damage to a patient or worse,
death. Safety of the patient is our top priority and in order to reach this goal, pharmacy
technicians must meet certain educational standards to practice in the State of Washington.
For the retail pharmacy stimulation, the player will need to complete five main tasks. Take a
prescription from the customer, determine that all information is current including insurance
coverage, enter the prescription into the computer, fill the prescription, return the correct
medication to the patient and collect payment. A label needs to be created and medication
counted before the order is complete. These tasks are similar to the tasks students need to
complete in order to pass the lab competencies for the retail pharmacy portion of our
program.
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In the hospital simulation setting, instead of taking the order from a customer, they will
receive an order from a nurse or prescriber. The player will need to solve a math calculation
problem, gather the necessary items to prepare an IV (intravenous) admixture, maintain
proper aseptic technique, including hair cover, shoe covers, gown and glove. The player will
mix the IV and make sure the pharmacist checks the final product. These are also part of
the lab competencies students need to master in order to pass the hospital section of the
program.
LEARNERS
This game is designed for pharmacy technician students or technicians in practice who want
to build up their skills. The game is designed for individuals who have knowledge of
pharmacy practice.
The player will need to have knowledge of the different tasks related to either a retail
pharmacy or hospital setting.
CONTEXT OF USE
The game is a PC CD-ROM software game designed to download either at home or at
school. System requirements include:
 Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/Vista
 PENTIUM II 800MHz or better
 256 MB RAM (512 required for Windows Vista)
 110 MB hard drive space
 3D Hardware Accelerated Video Card with 32MB Video RAM
 DirectX 7.0 or higher
It is designed with different characters and speed levels. The game will give the player a
level goal; i.e.; 300 points, to start increasing as the levels increase. If the player reaches
that goal in the allotted time, the player will earn bonus points. These bonus points count as
promotions or raises. There are 100 different levels the player can accomplish.
The game can be played in a formal instructional setting or at home. It can be played by
one person or two. Since it is a CD-ROM disc, it can be played on several computers as one
time. Also, because there are different levels, the game is designed to be replayed multiple
times.
A single level takes 2 minutes to complete. The player will interact with several different
characters during this time frame. As the player accomplishes each level, the time won’t
change, only the speed and the number of characters on each level will change.
SCOPE
After opening the Family Pharmacy, Frank turns his focus on training his twins, Jim and Jill,
the skills to manage a retail pharmacy. With the hint of strategy and a touch of skill, the
player will determine if they have the knowledge for success or whether the business will
fail.
The content includes the skills necessary to successfully complete a prescription or an IV
admixture from start to finish in a given amount of time.
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OBJECT OF THE GAME
The main goal of the game is to complete the task before the customer becomes upset and
leaves. If the customer leaves, the player loses points.
The object is to teach the player to multi-task in a given amount of time. This game is a
learning tool for both retail and hospital pharmacy settings.
DESIGN DETAILS
Universal Elements
The overall look of the game will be colorful and cartoonish, but yet realistic. It is a fun
game as well as a learning tool. By making the characters cartoonish, it will encourage the
player to want to play and add entrainment as well as a teaching tool. Music will be added
to an interest to the game. The lyric will be lively without being overwhelming.
Specific Elements
This is a simulation game. The player will have the choice of working in a retail pharmacy or
a hospital setting. Each level is designed to determine the knowledge they have learned in
their learning environment.
The retail setting will encounter an angry customer, waiting their prescription now and not
wanting to wait while the technician checks coverage, bill the insurance company, print a
label, place the label on the vial, have the pharmacist make the final check, and run the
charge. A medically challenged customer may be confused and unable to understand the
steps to completion. The player will also encounter a customer with a forged prescription.
The player will have to determine how to keep the customer occupied while contacting the
police.
Each character will have their own characteristics the player will need to overcome in order
to succeed.
The 1st level of the games takes place in a retail setting. The task is to fill a customer’s
prescription without omitting any of the necessary steps and return the final product to the
customer in the allotted amount of time without any errors.
As the player accomplishes the tasks on one level, they can move up to the next level. Each
level will add an additional task such as; answering the phone, ordering supplies, making
phone calls to providers verifying an order, or restocking shelves.
If a player decides to entire the hospital setting levels, they will encounter characters such
as a nurse, a prescriber (doctor, nurse practitioner, midwife, etc.), another technician, a
technician supervisor, or a pharmacist.
The player will need to complete the steps for IV preparation; take the order, gather
supplies, gown, glove, hair and shoe covers, prepare the admixture, and run the label in the
allotted amount of time.
The 1st level of the hospital setting allows the player to prepare an IV using proper aseptic
technique; a must in IV preparation to assure the final product is free of contamination.
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As the player accomplishes the first level in this setting, the additional levels adds skills
such as compounding, repackaging medications from a bulk bottle to a unit-dose package,
answering the phone, and filling prescriptions to be delivered to patients in the hospital.
COMPETING PRODUCTS
There are very few, if any, pharmacy simulated games. I designed this game after a game
called “Cake Mania.”
I chose this game because of the similarity of the different tasks the player needed to
complete in the allotted amount of time. In this game the player had to give a customer the
menu (take the prescription from the customer), place the cake in the oven (enter the
prescription into the computer to verify insurance coverage), frost the cake (count the pills,
pour them into a vial, and attach the label to the vial) and give the cake to the customer
and collect the money (give the prescription to the customer and collect the money).
The difference between the two games is the product the player is working with; one is a
cake, the other is medication. The type of customers is also different. In Cake Mania the
customers range from rich, impatience customers to teenagers ordering a cake for their
mom. In Pharmacy Mania, the customers range from angry customers to a customer who is
trying to pass a false prescription.
MOTIVATIONAL ISSUES
This game will challenge the player to use the skills they have learned in their trained
environment. The characters and color of the levels will encourage the player to continue to
play after they have succeeded on the previous level.
Each level will have a story to tell giving the player an idea of what is to be expected as
they move the skills they need to accomplish in order to gain points.
ASSESSING LEARNING
The challenge of the game is to “regurgitate” the skills they have already mastered in their
learning environment. The learning is measured by increasing their points in each level.
If the player fails to accomplish the skills, insufficiencies or inaccuracies are measured by
losing points and the inability to be able to move to the next level.
DESIGN PROCESS
I wanted to choose a game that would reflect the skills students need to accomplish in order
to perform their job successfully. Since I am not a video game player, I had to rely on the
skills of others to determine what game would fulfill my assignment.
My first thoughts were to design the game according to a time management format. I tried
several games on my own, but in the end, chose a game recommended by my daughter-inlaw who is an accomplished cake maker. After she explained the game to me, I went on-line
through www.bigfishgames.com and downloaded the game Cake Mania. Since the prototype
can only be played for one hour and I got hooked, I went out and bought the PC game.
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I quickly realized that this game is what I was looking for. I could easily replace the steps to
making cake with the steps to complete a prescription or to prepare an IV.
After choosing the game, I asked several of my students if this type of activity would be of
interest to them. They agreed that it would be a good learning tool to practice their skills
and to better their multi-tasking abilities.
By completing this project, I learned that I do have an imagination and if possible, it would
be fun to actually create a PC game similar to the one in this assignment.
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GLOSSARY
Aseptic Technique – The procedures used to eliminate the possibility of a drug becoming
contaminated with microbes or particles. This task requires gowning, gloves, hair cover and
shoe covers to prevent contamination.
Community or Retail Pharmacy – This type is setting is fought in an outpatient setting.
This is a walk-in or drive-through pharmacy that patients bring in their prescriptions to be
filled.
Intravenous – (IV) – A preparation made by combining two or more ingredients. The
drug(s) are added to a solution and the product is delivered through a tube into the
patient’s bloodstream.
Prescriber – A professional who has the authority to write prescriptions. Includes a
physician, a nurse practitioner, a midwife, a veterinarian, a podiatrist, a dentist, or a
physician’s assistant.
Unit-dose – a single dose of a drug. Since hospitals do not dispense medications in bulk (in
a container similar to what a patient receives in a retail pharmacy), medications are
packaged in individual single dose packages.
REFERENCES
Cake Mania 3, PC Time Management Games www.bigfishgames.com
Sandlot Games (2007). Video: Cake Mania, Oberon Media, Inc.
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