Serious gaming can be used to enhance surgical skills, but games
developed or used to train medical professionals need to be validated
before they are integrated into teaching methods, according to a paper
in the October issue of the surgical journal BJS.
Researchers from The Netherlands reviewed 25 research studies covering
30 serious games published between 1995 and 2012.
“Many medical professionals may still have a rather out-dated view of
the average gamer as being someone who is too young to vote, afraid of
daylight and busy killing mystical dwarves in their parent’s basement”
says co-author Dr Marlies Schijven from the Department of Surgery at the
Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam.
“However, the reality is that the average game player is 37 years-old
and there are almost three times as many women using games as boys aged
17 years or younger.
“Although game-based learning is becoming a new form of healthcare
education, scientific research on its effectiveness is limited. The aim
of this review was to identify the value of serious games for training
professionals in medicine and, in particular, surgery.”
Nineteen articles discussing 17 serious games specifically developed for
educational purposes were identified by Dr Schijven and co-author Dr
Maurits Graafland. Many of these covered team training in acute and
critical care and dealing with mass casualty incidents, including
nuclear events and hazardous materials. Others covered more specific
areas of healthcare, such as training for coronary artery bypasses and
knee joint surgery and assessing and resuscitating patients with burns.
Six studies assessed 13 commercially available games associated with,
but not specifically developed for, improving skills relevant to the
medical profession. They included sports, action, adventure and shooting
games and were used to help surgeons improve their laparoscopic
psychomotor skills.
The authors have made a number of observations as a result of their
review. These include:
Serious games form an innovative approach towards the education of
medical professionals and surgical specialities are eager to apply them
for a range of training purposes.
Further research should define valid performance parameters and formally
validate programmes before serious games can be seen as fully fledged
teaching instruments for medical and surgical professionals.
Although a serious game does not necessarily have to be developed for an
educational purpose to be an educational tool, such games cannot be seen
as fully completed training resources.
Serious games allow multiple professionals to train simultaneously on
one case and allow one professional to train multiple cases
simultaneously. These skills are recognised as critical in reducing
medical errors in dynamic high-risk environments, such as the operating
room or emergency department.
Serious games can provide crisis resource training, with a large variety
of cases, in a relatively cheap, readily available environment that
provides a viable alternative to expensive simulators. Serious games
also provide training environments for disaster situations and mass
casualty incidents, including combat care.
Games need to be designed to fit into residency teaching programmes if
they are to be used as a way of preventing medical errors.
Simulation and serious gaming represent ideal teaching methods to
optimise the knowledge and skill of residents before they are entrusted
with procedures in real patients. Educators and games designers should
develop serious games that train professionals in order to maximise
patient safety.
Although the cost of developing serious games can run into millions,
this investment can be justified in terms of delivering better patient
care and preventing errors and insurance companies could play a key role.
“Our review clearly shows that serious games can be used to provide
surgeons with training in both technical and non-technical skills” says
Dr Schijven. “However, games developed or used to train medical
professionals need to be validated before they are integrated into
surgical teaching programmes.”
The paper can be read free online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bjs.8819/pdf
