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Game Economics (2019)

Game Theory of Economics application in medical science – A Real World Use Case

Game For Doctors – Created by Shahnawaz Asif Raja (CEO & Founder at Biospiel – Linkedin)

Game: A Game is any social interaction between multiple people, in which each person`s payoff is affected by the decision made by others. There are two types of games:

1) Cooperative Games
2) Non-Cooperative Games

In this example, we talk about Cooperative Games.

For Example: Suppose we develop a game for doctors and the objective of the game is to “improve healthcare of the society”. In this example there are many players (Doctors and Patients). The doctor`s objective is to make a “decision” about a disease/injury (while studying medical image) so that they can diagnose and cure the disease of patient, hence improving healthcare of the society. Now, we talk about “payoff”. The payoff from the decision affects
both players (Doctor and Patient):

Payoff for Doctor: Doctor A makes a decision about Patient P. So, Doctor A utility is increased in terms of reputation (by diagnosing and curing the disease) and also missed utility of Doctor B that he was not able to see or make a decision about Patient P.

Payoff for Patient: The Patient P found out about the disease and cure and his utility is changed.

Utility for Doctor: Quantification can be in material gains (currency) or psychological fulfillment (increase in reputation, such as: decision which resulted in disease cure).

Utility for Patient: Health percentage of Patient before diagnose and total health percentage of Patient after decision made from Doctor and cure of disease, which resulted in health percentage of Patient to 100% after cure.

The application of Game is diverse and can be applied in: (1) Medicine Practice (2) Students of Medical Science (3) Research and Development of Medical Science.