War games: using an online game to teach medical students about survival during conflict 'When my survival instincts kick in, what am I truly capable of in times of conflict?'

摘要

The use of games in medical and health profession education is increasing.This trend is partly meant to serve as an alternative to more traditional pedagogical methods, and partly to adjust to the way many millennials learn and interact with the world. Often referred to as GBL (Game-based learning), this pedagogy is thought to harness a heightened learner arousal to achieve higher-level engagement and offer immersive learning. A small number of studies have shown that this pedagogical method provides an engaging and enjoyable way of learning and could have the potential to improve health professionals' performance, knowledge and skills (Evans et al. 2015; Gleason 2015; Graafland et al. 2014; Henry 1997; Hurtubise et al. 2013; Nicolaidou et al. 2015). A 2015 review noted that 'gaming makes a positive impact on the teaching/learning process'and that'games can be used as a context for formative assessment' (Abdulmajed, Park, and Tekian 2015). However, an earlier review on gaming in health profession education examining patient and performance outcomes did not find benefits uniformly, and concluded that'the findings of this systematic review neither confirm nor refute the utility of games as a teaching strategy for health professionals' (Akl et al. 2013). Combined, these findings raise questions about the most beneficial uses of GBL in medical education, as a complement to other learning methods.