In April, Karl and I took a day out for a First Aid training course; a qualified St John Ambulance representative came down to teach us how best to respond to someone who's in need of medical help. Our guy was a great teacher, we rehearsed the procedure for CPR a number of times in the lead up to our assessment. Despite all of this, I still wonder how I would react in an emergency situation where someone is lying on the floor needing help in the street... As a result of this it seemed topical to cover the new app designed to educate users by simulating a real crisis event.
Lifesaver is a FREE app developed by Unit 9 funded by the UK's Technology Strategy Board and Resuscitation Council (UK) a medical charity that generates the UK guidelines for CPR, basically the people who instruct the NHS what the standard protocol is. This interactive app is accessible on Android, iPhone and iPad.
The app plays a short video which portrays a real life situation which you become glued to.. but not before you're called into the scene and forced to make decisions within a 10 second timeframe. I view this interactive digital experience as a very modern step up from the books where you chose your fate by turning to a specific page. In Lifesaver you answer with your decision and the video continues on. The interactivity doesn't stop at the touch of a button, infact, users are required to swipe, drag, titlt and shake their iPad to engage with their patient. The success of the action is reflected in an onscreen graphic that sits over the video - for instance, when pumping the body there is a chart which measures the pressure you apply on a scale of bad to good.
App development like this is utilising the smartphone/tablet sensor technology, we are not necessarily confined by swipes but by more expressive gestures that may follow a high pressured situation. The acting within the video footage is convincing and displacing, and triggers a not too dissimilar feeling of adrenaline for when or if you were ever to encounter a real life emergency.
Check out what others think of the app.
Check out what Unit9 have to say about their app.
