Five bombs exploded in a crowded theme park. Dozens of burned bodies scattered the ground. The victims pleaded for help.
Dr. David W. Mozingo sat at his computer in his white coat playing the new video game "Burn Center."
"Burn Center" is an interactive, first-response video game that trains trauma surgeons, nurses and EMTs to treat burn and blast injuries on a mass casualty scale of more than 2,000 victims.
Mozingo, a professor of surgery in the UF College of Medicine and director of the Shands Burn Center, joined Sergei Kurenov, a UF simulation expert; Ben Noel, chief executive officer of Orlando-based entertainment media company 360Ed; the Florida Department of Health; and ProMedia to create the game following a post-Sept. 11 federal mandate by the Department of Homeland Security.
"A video game is an interesting way to have people immersed in an emergency situation while they quickly learn how to make good and bad decisions," Mozingo said.
360Ed, known for reality-based games such as "Grand Theft Auto" and "Madden NFL," devoted the past year toeducational programs like "Burn Center."
Players are scored on how quickly they respond and how many lives they save.
The simulation begins when a terrorist attack leaves 40 people with major and minor injuries.
"When you have thousands of burn victims, what do you do?" Noel said.
"You have to decide who goes to the hospital, burn center or trauma center. You also decide who dies."
A red exclamation mark flashed on Mozingo's computer screen during the resuscitation phase in the virtual Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
He gave the patient more intravenous fluids with two mouse clicks, and the emergency was resolved.
The ICU's semi-random complications rotate each play so the trainee doesn't know what will happen next.
In expert mode, the player is responsible for looking after 12 patients over 36 hours.
There are about 1,800 burn center beds in the United States, Mozingo said.
If there were a situation with more than 2,000 burns, it would overwhelm the capacity of the entire nation.
"After Sept. 11, we all woke up," Noel said.
"One of the things about that day is that there were no survivors," he added. "But what if there had been? What if we needed to respond? Would we be prepared?"
