Impact of gamification strategies applied to an institutional pharmacy department education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.46542/pe.2024.241.506514Keywords:
Hospital personnel administration, Hospital pharmacy service, On the job training, Pharmacy educationAbstract
Background: The methods used by health systems and pharmacy departments to educate personnel and uphold competency standards are variable. Gamification utilises motivational affordances, commonly in the form of game-like environments, to increase user engagement. There is limited data on the use of gamification in pharmacy workforce education.
Objective: To evaluate the impact of gamification strategies on education in a pharmacy department via post-module assessment scores and satisfaction survey results.
Methods: This prospective randomised controlled trial enrolled institutional pharmacy department employees assigned to a control group receiving traditional education or an intervention group receiving gamified education. After completion, employees were given an assessment and a satisfaction survey. The primary endpoint was post-module assessment scores. The secondary endpoint was satisfaction survey scores.
Results: The study included 55 pharmacists and 17 technicians. The gamification group experienced higher median post-module assessment scores in two of the three modules (p < 0.0001). The gamification group also reported higher satisfaction in all three modules, with notable differences in overall median satisfaction scores for two of the five survey questions; these two questions concerned engagement and enjoyment.
Conclusion: This study demonstrated the positive impact of gamification on pharmacy department personnel’s academic performance and engagement. Future studies are needed to investigate gamification elements that primarily affect user knowledge retention.
References
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2023, September). Defining health systems. AHRQ Website. https://www.ahrq.gov/chsp/defining-health-systems/index.html
Arruzza, E., & Chau, M. (2021). A scoping review of randomised controlled trials to assess the value of gamification in the higher education of health science students. Journal of Medical Imaging and Radiation Sciences, 52(1), 137–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmir.2020.10.003
Arufe Giráldez, V., Sanmiguel-Rodríguez, A., Ramos Álvarez, O., & Navarro-Patón, R. (2022). Can gamification influence the academic performance of students? Sustainability, 14(9), 5115. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14095115
Dahlstrøm, C. (2003). Impacts of gamification on intrinsic motivation [Norwegian University of Science and Technology]. https://www.ntnu.edu/documents/139799/1279149990/04+Article+Final_camildah_forsøk_2017-12-06-13-53-55_TPD4505.Camilla.Dahlstrøm.pdf
Gallup Inc. (2017, December 20). Dismal employee engagement is a sign of global mismanagement. Gallup.Com. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/231668/dismal-employee-engagement-sign-global-mismanagement.aspx
Gentry, S. V., Gauthier, A., L’Estrade Ehrstrom, B., Wortley, D., Lilienthal, A., Tudor Car, L., Dauwels-Okutsu, S., Nikolaou, C. K., Zary, N., Campbell, J., & Car, J. (2019). Serious gaming and gamification education in health professions: Systematic review. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(3), e12994. https://doi.org/10.2196/12994
Hamari, J., Koivisto, J., & Sarsa, H. (2014). Does gamification work? A literature review of empirical studies on gamification. 2014 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, 3025–3034. https://doi.org/10.1109/HICSS.2014.377
Hope, D. L., Grant, G. D., Rogers, G. D., & King, M. A. (2023). Gamification in pharmacy education: A systematic quantitative literature review. International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, 31(1), 15–31. https://doi.org/10.1093/ijpp/riac099
Huynh, D., & Iida, H. (2017). An analysis of winning streak’s effects in language course of “Duolingo.” Asia-Pacific Journal of Information Technology & Multimedia, 06(02), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.17576/apjitm-2017-0602-03
Kerfoot, B. P., Turchin, A., Breydo, E., Gagnon, D., & Conlin, P. R. (2014). An online spaced-education game among clinicians improves their patients’ time to blood pressure control: A randomized controlled trial. Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, 7(3), 468–474. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCOUTCOMES.113.000814
Nah, F. F.-H., Telaprolu, V. R., Rallapalli, S., & Venkata, P. R. (2013). Gamification of education using computer games. In S. Yamamoto (Ed.), Human Interface and the Management of Information. Information and Interaction for Learning, Culture, Collaboration and Business, (Vol. 8018, pp. 99–107). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39226-9_12
Safapour, E., Kermanshachi, S., & Taneja, P. (2019). A review of nontraditional teaching methods: Flipped classroom, gamification, case study, self-learning, and social media. Education Sciences, 9(4), 273. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9040273
Telner, D., Bujas-Bobanovic, M., Chan, D., Chester, B., Marlow, B., Meuser, J., Rothman, A., & Harvey, B. (2010). Game-based versus traditional case-based learning: Comparing effectiveness in stroke continuing medical education. Canadian Family Physician Medecin De Famille Canadien, 56(9), e345–e351. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmc2939136/
The Joint Commission. (2022, April 18). Competency assessment vs education and training. The Joint Commission Human Resources Website. https://www.jointcommission.org/standards/standard-faqs/hospital-and-hospital-clinics/human-resources-hr/000002254/
Tullis, J. G., & Benjamin, A. S. (2011). On the effectiveness of self-paced learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 64(2), 109–118. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.jml.2010.11.002
Van Gaalen, A. E. J., Brouwer, J., Schönrock-Adema, J., Bouwkamp-Timmer, T., Jaarsma, A. D. C., & Georgiadis, J. R. (2021). Gamification of health professions education: A systematic review. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 26(2), 683–711. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-020-10000-3
