Qstream Mobile Platform Adds Fun to ECG Challenge as Program Expands Nationwide

ECG Skills-building Competition Grows to Include More Than 1, 300 Residents at Nine Top U.S. Teaching Hospitals

BURLINGTON, MA (November 13, 2014) – Qstream, maker of mobile software that helps expand health care professionals’ skills in just minutes a day, today announced that the Boston-area “ECG Challenge” has now grown to include more than 1, 300 residents in internal and emergency medicine at nine top teaching hospitals nationwide. Using any smartphone, tablet or mobile device, participants compete for points on the leader board based on their responses to brief, scenario-based challenges designed to strengthen their ECG diagnostic skills while fundamentally improving patient outcomes.

Initially deployed this spring to 700 residents at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Mass General, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Boston Medical Center, the program was expanded to include participants at UCLA, Vanderbilt, Baylor, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, and Houston Methodist teaching institutions as new resident classes entered the fall semester. The ECG Challenge has received rave reviews as a convenient way to practice skills in a fun institutional rivalry.

Challenge scenarios for the competition were developed by cardiologist Dr. Philip Podrid, professor of medicine, pharmacology and experimental therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine. With the current Challenge expected to conclude mid-December 2014, other training programs are already requesting participation in the spring 2015 semester.

Challenge questions are delivered over spaced intervals of time to ensure that residents’ ECG interpretation skills are progressively strengthened. After a specific scenario is answered correctly twice, it is retired and extra points are awarded. Scores are posted to the Qstream leaderboard ranking individuals by their randomly assigned alias name (“Jazzy Chicken, ” “Irresistible Salmon”) and by an aggregate tally for each participating institution.

Developed at Harvard Medical School, Qstream’s game-based approach has been validated in more than 20 randomized trials to boost retention by up to 170% and durably change on-the-job practices to improve patient outcomes.

“I’ve really enjoyed the ECG Challenge, ” said Marilyn Michelow, MD, a resident at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “Reading and understanding EKGs is an important skill. I’ve learned a lot from this Qstream.”