Kognito Interactive And NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Introduce "At-Risk in Primary Care" - Virtual Training For NYC Healthcare Providers

NEW YORK, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, New York City-based Kognito Interactive (www.kognito.com), in partnership with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), announced the launch of At-Risk in Primary Care, an online, interactive training simulation developed to prepare New York City's 7,000 primary care providers to screen and manage the treatment of patients with trauma-related mental health disorders. The online training tool is free to all New York City primary care providers (PCPs).

"The impact of devastating events like Hurricane Sandy on mental health can be significant and long-lasting," said Dr. Adam Karpati, Executive Deputy Commissioner for Mental Hygiene at the City's Health Department. "It is critical that primary care providers be able to identify and manage mental health conditions related to this traumatic event, and that is why At-Risk in Primary Care will be an important part of our emergency response strategy."

About one in four American adults suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder, yet 62 percent of them go untreated. This public health challenge is exacerbated following large-scale traumatic events such as 9/11 or Hurricane Sandy that can lead to a surge in the number of patients seeking help for physical ailments, which may be masking underlying mental health disorders such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, depression, and anxiety.

PCPs, acting as the first point-of-care for nearly half of the U.S. patient population, are in a unique position to change this paradigm by identifying patients with mental health disorders and managing their care.

At-Risk in Primary Care was built using Kognito's proprietary "Human Interaction Game Engine," which supports the creation and delivery of simulated clinical encounters and conversations with intelligent, fully animated and emotionally responsive patient avatars that model human behavior. PCPs using At-Risk will experience challenging patient interactions in a risk-free, virtual environment that prepares them to master the skills to manage similar conversations with patients in real life.

"We are providing clinicians with virtual role-plays where they can practice conversation skills that build patients' trust, assist in uncovering any psychological causes of physical symptoms, and change behaviors related to treatment adherence," said Ron Goldman, CEO of Kognito Interactive. "Knowing how to manage these often-challenging conversations is critical to increasing patient engagement and ensuring successful outcomes."

The At-Risk in Primary Care program is available online. Learners who successfully complete the training are eligible for 1.50 CME or CNE credits. NYC providers can access the training here: http://www.kognitomed.com/34. A demo of the training can be viewed here: http://www.kognito.com/products/pcp  

About Kognito
Kognito Interactive is a developer of role-playing training simulations in the areas of health and behavioral health. In its online and mobile simulations, users learn effective tactics for managing challenging conversations by practicing speaking with intelligent, fully animated, and emotionally responsive avatars that act and respond like real people. The main goals of our simulations are to promote early intervention, prevention, and adherence.  Our learning solutions have been adopted by 450 hospitals, universities, state agencies, the VA of NY/NJ, and units of the Air Force and National Guard to train over 1.5 million people in the U.S., Canada, UK, and Australia. Learn more and view demos at www.kognito.com.

SOURCE Kognito Interactive