Development and evaluation of a serious game to support learning among pharmacy and nursing students

Serious games (SGs) are a digital method that promotes learning through playability. DOSE is a SG that aims to improve the use and navigation of the British National Formulary, a standard medicines reference source. This research aimed to design and examine the playability and perceptions of DOSE within healthcare curricula.

The study used gaming psychology concepts to design DOSE and evaluated it across two cohorts of students from the undergraduate pharmacy and nursing courses at Kingston University. Pre- and post-game questionnaires were utilised to examine usability and student perceptions. SG playability and validity were measured against standard criteria using validated assessment frameworks. Cronbach's α was calculated to determine the internal reliability of the framework assessments.

The SG was validated for playability, functionality, and rationale (α ≥ 0.8). The majority (95%, n = 95) of pharmacy students reported they would use DOSE again with 58% (n = 58) indicating they would use the SG as a revision tool. DOSE was also perceived positively among the nursing cohort, with 84% (n = 118) indicating they would like to see DOSE embedded within the curriculum; 77% (n = 108) agreed DOSE had helped to improve their knowledge of pharmacology.

DOSE playability and validity was reported by pharmacy students. Nursing students reported a significant increase in confidence using the BNF and overall high acceptability of DOSE as a SG. DOSE was found to be a usable SG model across both cohorts.