The hospital discharge game : A game theory-inspired workshop to encourage cooperation between health and social care organisations

Abstract

Traditionally, health and social care organisations have operated independently, with minimal interaction and poor integration of the various services with which a patient comes into contact. In some cases, 'perverse' systemic incentives have discouraged cooperation and led to a 'silo mentality'. In this paper, we present an interactive workshop game that can be played with those working in and around health and social care. The game places teams in the roles of community and acute hospitals, and asks them to make discharge decisions about patients. However, a 'perverse' incentive is present in the system, and opposing teams are not allowed to communicate, which leads to increasingly 'selfish' decision making. We outline the details of this game, and show how it can be used as a tool to facilitate understanding of the benefits of cross-organisational communication and cooperation. We also present data from an initial pilot of this workshop.