Staying cool and collected when most people would crumble and cry is key to being a good paramedic, but how do you know which ones you'd be and do in an emergency?
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One way is through a mind-controlled game that reads your emotions while faced with virtual injured patients and only lets you progress if your stress levels stay low.
Australian Catholic University teamed up with Japanese digital agency Isobar to create the Neuromedic "mind-over-matter" interactive simulation, which will be on show for visitors at the ACU Canberra campus open day on Saturday.
The technology detects the brain's instinctive responses in order to sense the player's reaction to an emergency, which prompts the game to decide the fate of the patients.
ACU associate director of digital strategy Cameron McPherson said ACU was the first Australian university to showcase the new technology.
"We are using latest technology that hasn't been used in Australia before where the user puts the headset on, and it has sensor pads that picks up the electricity in your brain and then transmits through bluetooth the reading into the game that we have created on an iPad," he said.
"That then allows the user to move through the game in a kind of chose-your-own-adventure style, but it does it all subliminally using the brain's electricity waves."
Only calm players would be permitted to determine who needs to be treated first and how to treat them correctly.
Mr McPherson said the game would not be used in the curriculum for paramedic students, but was designed to help potential students know how a paramedic must respond under pressure.
Canberra's universities and TAFEs will hold their open days from 9am-4pm on Saturday August 27 (except for the CIT Tuggeranong campus which will run its open day from 9:30am to 1pm).
Their addresses are:
Australian Catholic University Canberra – corner Phillip and Antill Streets, Watson
Australian National University – Acton
University of Canberra – University Drive, Bruce
University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy – Northcott Drive, Campbell
Canberra Institute of Technology – Bruce campus is at 35 Vowels Crescent, Fyshwick campus is at 81 Mildura Street, Reid campus is at 37 Constitution Avenue, Woden campus is at Ainsworth Street in Phillip and Tuggeranong campus is at 175 Anketell Street, Greenway.
