Analytic decision gaming – A tool to develop crisis response and clinical reasoning

Emerging threats provide motivation to develop new methods for preparing the next generation of crisis responders. Bayesian theory shifts reasoning toward a probabilistic, epistemic paradigm, giving rise to Evans' revised heuristic-analytic theory. Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University use scenario-based training and the analytic decision game (ADG) to blend and implement these processes as foundational pedagogy for engaging, educating and training medical students as crisis responders and critical thinkers. The ADG scenarios vary by content and level of expertise, lending themselves readily adaptable to both crisis response preparation and the development of clinical reasoning. The ADG creates a virtual crisis requiring participants to engage in scenario management as role-players. For the past two years, students from the Penn State College of Medicine, in their first year of training, have participated in the ADG Lights Out scenario, testing community preparation and resilience after a wide-spread and months-long power outage.