Serious Games and Gamification: Health Care Workers' Experience, Attitudes, and Knowledge

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Medical Education Technology
• Gamification in Healthcare

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital technology adoption in healthcare learning.
• Serious games offer innovative educational approaches for healthcare professionals.
• Assessing healthcare workers' perspectives on serious games is crucial for effective implementation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate healthcare workers' experiences, attitudes, and knowledge concerning serious games in training.
• To explore the potential of serious games for enhancing medical education and continuing professional development.

Main Methods:

• A convenience sample of 223 internal medicine and psychiatry professionals participated.
• Data collected included sociodemographic information, and assessments of experience, attitudes, and knowledge regarding serious games.
• Ordinal regression analysis examined the relationship between knowledge, attitudes, experiences, and the desire to implement serious games.

Main Results:

• Most healthcare workers lacked familiarity with serious games and gamification.
• Significant gender and age-related differences were observed in familiarity and willingness to use serious games.
• Younger professionals demonstrated higher motivation for integrating serious games compared to older counterparts who favored traditional learning.

Conclusions:

• The study indicates a positive reception to serious games, particularly among younger healthcare workers.
• Serious games represent a promising avenue for evolving postgraduate medical teaching and continuing medical education.
• Digitalization and new technologies, spurred by the pandemic, create a favorable environment for serious game adoption in healthcare training.