Indeed, it seems that we are yet again talking about the hot topic of the moment: gamification, which is the use of game dynamics for more “serious” purposes and an area of considerable potential in the business world.

 However, today we are not going to highlight the use large corporations are making of gamification, nor are we going to analyse the huge shift society is undergoing as these new technologies are put into place.

 At BBVAtech we have had the chance to talk to Jesús Miguel Pérez , CEO of TedCas, who explained to us how, in conjunction with Miguel Calvo , Technical Supervisor of the project, they have developed an application for Kinect, an accessory for Microsoft´s game console which allows interaction and control of the console through body movement, in order to adapt it to the operating theatres of any hospital.

When a surgeon is performing an operation, they are required to consult the patient´s file, scans or X-rays and content managers. Any object introduced into the operating theatre increases the risk of an infection and if the surgeon must leave the operating theatre every time information needs to be verified, valuable time can be lost.

With TedCas´s initiative, a surgeon will be able to access all patient information, in digital format, in a way that is free from pathogenic organisms and via remote, so that only hand gestures and voice commands are called for. So, a surgeon can control, through a glass barrier, a computer where the patient´s file is stored, just with simple hand movements. This breakthrough will aid in reducing the 300,000 cases of in-hospital infections which occur every year in Spain, of which 6,000 lead to patient death and mean an additional €600m is spent from the healthcare system´s budget.

The invention is without a doubt revolutionary and as such has been awarded numerous prizes. Indeed, there are already pilot programs in various Spanish hospitals. Moreover, TedCas has signed commercial agreements with companies from all over the world.

And it doesn´t stop there. In addition, the company is working on TedRehab, a telerehabilitation system, just as physical as it is cognitive, processed in the cloud and based, naturally, on Kinect technology.

The use of Kinect in the medical sector is, in fact, an area in which Microsoft itself is working. Its investigative laboratory, Microsoft Research, is collaborating with London´s St. Thomas hospital, in order to apply this technology to cardiovascular operations.

Without a doubt, videogames can do more than just entertain us: they can also save lives.