As a couple of our recent news stories show, not everyone thinks that video games are bad for the soul. 

Firstly I was really impressed by a start up based in Arizona, USA called Kinetic Muscles. They combine simple robotics and video games to help stroke victims regain the use of paralysed limbs. The technology focuses on hand and foot movements based on research which shows that intense, interactive movement therapy can improve function in the upper extremity of stroke and other brain injury survivors (see picture below).

In another example, games are being used to help students get a better understanding of the first principles of medicine. You might think that Immune Attack is just another shoot 'em up when you first watch a demo of the game, but in fact it's been launched by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) to teach teenagers about human molecular biology.

I know some people will say that this is just dumbing down, but I disagree. Unless we communicate with today's students using their own frame of reference, we will lose them as the clinicians, pioneers and innovators of tomorrow. And if we want to stay ahead in the competition for talent, we need to be thinking a decade down the line when the majority of clinicians under 40 will be happier holding a mobile device than a reference book.

Early evidence from the FAS bears this out: "Results find that students who play the game show significant gains in confidence with the molecular science-related material and gains in their knowledge of cell biology and molecular science". Put it another way,  if a fourteen year old makes a connection with medicine playing a smart video simulation rather than a text book, then we should celebrate one more recruit to the potential talent pool of tomorrow and and worry less about the way we achieved this goal.