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Exploring the feasibility and acceptability of using tactical decision games to develop final year medical students'
Iain Drummond1, Gauhar Sheikh1, Janet Skinner1
1a Centre for Medical Education , The University of Edinburgh , Edinburgh , UK ;
Introduction:
Clinical decision-making, situation awareness, task management, and teamwork are key non-technical skills (NTS) required by junior doctors. Tactical decision games (TDGs) are low-fidelity classroom-based activities designed to develop proficiency in NTS. This study aimed to explore the feasibility and acceptability of using TDGs as a novel teaching method for final year medical students.
Methods:
Final year medical students at the University of Edinburgh participated in a single TDG session. Focus groups were then used to explore students' perceptions of participating in the TDG session and transcribed data from the focus groups was thematically analyzed.
Results:
Six key themes emerged from the data: "the value of non-medical games"; "giving and receiving feedback"; "observing and reflecting"; "recognizing and understanding NTS"; "dealing with uncertainty and ambiguity", and "introducing TDGs into the curriculum".
Conclusions:
TDGs are an easy-to-use, low-fidelity method of teaching medical students about the importance of NTS. Medical students view TDGs as a valuable learning activity that appears to increase awareness and understanding of the importance of NTS.
