Forecasting Implementation, Adoption, and Evaluation Challenges for an Electronic Game-Based Antimicrobial...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Game-Based Learning
• Antimicrobial Stewardship

Background:

• Serious games offer a novel approach to enhance engagement and sustainability in interventions for optimal antibiotic use among hospital prescribers.
• Traditional interventions often face challenges in maintaining user engagement and long-term effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify potential implementation, adoption, and evaluation gaps for game-based interventions.
• To co-design practical solutions with antimicrobial clinicians and digital/behavioral researchers.

Main Methods:

• A co-development workshop was conducted with 29 clinicians and academics.
• Participants discussed implementation, adoption, and evaluation challenges and solutions for serious games in antimicrobial stewardship.
• Discussions were guided by a workshop leader, and notes were collated by an observer.

Main Results:

• Key challenges identified include inadequate organizational support for scaling, integrating games into professional workflows, and perceived unprofessionalism.
• Concerns were raised about the difficulty of combining game metrics with organizational indicators like antibiotic use.
• Effective feedback mechanisms and streamlined integration into existing systems are crucial.

Conclusions:

• Successful deployment of serious games requires strategic planning for clinician engagement and support.
• Integrating game outputs into existing workflows and addressing perceptions of unprofessionalism are critical for adoption.
• Careful consideration of organizational and technical factors is necessary for sustained impact.