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Shane Rafferty plays video games for a living. He is neither a developer nor a ranked professional, but his work revolves around the game: Rafferty is a game technology specialist. As the name suggests, he uses technology – and video games in particular – to provide social and emotional support to hospitalized children and their families.

Although the job description sounds like fantasy, gaming technology specialists are a reality in more than 50 hospitals worldwide. Among them is Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. As of August 2021, Rafferty has played dozens of games there, ranging from Mario Kart to Tetris to Super Smash Bros., with hundreds of kids.

Rafferty comes from a health care background, so he’s no stranger to educating patients, distracting them and helping them cope with diagnoses, but gaming also allows him to connect with patients over shared interests.

“It’s a great way to build rapport with them and break down barriers,” says Rafferty.

In addition to building relationships, he also found that playing alongside (or against!) the children helps them forget that they are in the hospital. It gives them a chance to engage in the game, the same as their peers.

“They’re sitting, they’re playing Mario Kart,” Rafferty says, “and they’re not thinking about how they were stuck in the same room last month. Instead, they’re thinking, ‘I’ve got to get this red shell so I can beat this guy can, who thinks he is hot stuff.’

Being able to provide this recreation through gaming, which both Rafferty and the children enjoy, is especially rewarding.

The title “gaming technology specialist” may be a bit of a misnomer, as Rafferty’s day includes everything from bedside gaming sessions to console troubleshooting to consultations with other departments and even donors.

As Rafferty puts it, “I wear many hats.”

Rafferty has three primary duties at Lurie. The first is to maintain the hospital’s entertainment technology. This includes the consoles in the game room area on the hospital’s 20 mobile game carts, and any tech loaned to patients’ individual rooms. He troubleshoots controllers, installs updates and confirms the properties of the apps downloaded on the hospital’s iPads. He also orders new equipment as needed.

These are tasks that improve the quality of life of patients. They are also tasks that can be relegated to the back burner without a dedicated specialist.

“Our child care team focuses on interacting with patients’ families, providing procedural support, and providing education,” says Rafferty. If a game doesn’t work, “they don’t have time to say, ‘Okay, is Minion Rush up to date?'”

Handling the burden of technical maintenance is just one of the benefits of being a gaming technology specialist. There’s also Rafferty’s second task to consider, one that informs the first: His job requires him to stay on top of the latest trends in tech and gaming.

In this research, Rafferty is never alone. His position is currently funded by a two-year grant from Child’s Play, a games industry charity. Through this partnership, Rafferty not only receives donated equipment (such as the hospital’s 3D printer), but also access to the larger community of gaming technology specialists, with whom he meets weekly to exchange ideas.

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