SimQuest Awarded Phase 2 Contract from Office of the Secretary of Defense to Develop Pandemic Influenza Traini...( SILVER SPRING Md. Nov. 24 /- SimQuest...),Health

SILVER SPRING, Md., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- SimQuest, a leading developer of technology-assisted education and training, has received a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract award from the Office of the Secretary of Defense to develop a simulation-based planning and training tool for infectious disease outbreak -- specifically pandemic influenza.

The end result will be a "serious game" -- a software application developed with game design principles and technology that's used for educational purposes -- which allows medical treatment facility (MTF) administrators and supervisors to understand the relationships that strategic planning and tactical decision-making have on the spread of disease.

In addition, the pandemic influenza training program SimQuest is developing is relevant to military training because domestic military support will likely be requested during a pandemic. Force preparedness is also a concern when considering more soldiers were killed by the flu outbreak in 1918 than in World War I in total.

"The problem is that the world is due for an influenza pandemic, with the last one occurring in 1968, and there is a severe shortage of caregivers experienced in pandemic flu response," says Bob Waddington, COO of SimQuest. "Unfortunately, an experienced caregiver from the last outbreak would likely be over 60-years-old or retired. Our goal is to create an engaging training application for medical treatment facility administrators and supervisors, as well as the military, which can increase readiness and minimize the potential for chaos during the next pandemic outbreak of influenza."

How SimQuest's Pandemic Influenza Training Program will Work

The computer-based program SimQuest is developing will incorporate scientific models to present users with various scenarios incorporating the early warning signs of an outbreak through a multi-media dashb
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