Finally, a way to make family game night feel like work!
Organisations the world over are diversifying their offerings to survive and General Practice Supervision Australia is no exception.
Meet Consultation! The Board Game, which was developed by the GPSA education team as a teaching and learning resource for GP registrars earlier this year.
The game made its international debut at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practice conference in Wellington last week, where it sold out on the spot.
GPSA chair Dr Srishti Dutta said the “at times frustrating” game “uncannily mimics a day in practice” (she also said it was fun).
The gameplay – which is “fun, educational and at times frustrating” – involves spinning a wheel and moving from consult room to consult room, where players are given different patient scenarios.
An example Consultation! scenario is that of Maddie, a 19-year-old student with a family history of coeliac disease who presents with diarrhoea and abdominal bloating.
The recipient of Maddie’s consultation card is required to explain to her, in role, their initial approach to investigating her for coeliac disease.
The winner is the first player to make it to the lunchroom and eat a cupcake.
There are around 120 different scenarios included in the game, which is advertised as being “perfect for all skill levels”.
“We are unique in our provision of open access resources, and we remain committed to continuing to share our content for free for the benefit of the broader community, and equally committed to keeping membership free for all Australians involved in GP training,” Dr Dutta said.
“Shoring up the sustainability of GPSA so we can continue to deliver the calibre of support you deserve is naturally one of our key priorities; your purchase of our apps and game will help ensure GPSA can continue to represent and support you into the future.”
While the game sold out at the RNZCGP conference, the good news is that more stock is now available. Eager supervisors, registrars and budding GPs can order a copy of the game directly from the GPSA website for about $100 plus postage.
GPs who are more research-oriented don’t have to feel left out of the board game fun, either.
Minnesota-based researcher Dr Max Bai has recently released a card game prototype titled Publish or Perish.
Players compete with each other to rack up citations and publish nonsense manuscripts with titles like “The Zen of Not Finding Your Car In a Parking Lot: A Journey into Acceptance and Despair” and “Why Dogs Follow You into the Bathroom: Insights into Canine Codependency”.
At each publication, every player must say “congratulations on your publication” while clapping; not doing so earns you an extra card for what Dr Bai calls an “unforgivable academic faux pas”.
Players are encouraged to sabotage one another and give backhanded compliments or unconstructive criticism.
Whoever emerges with the most citations wins.
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