Gamification and Serious Games in Orthopedic Education: A Systematic Review

Gamification and serious games have successfully been used in surgical specialties to improve technical skills related to systematic procedures. However, the use of gamified education material has remained limited in orthopedic residency training. The objective of this systematic review is to summarize the current use, development, and future directions of gamification for developing orthopedic skills. A comprehensive literature search was performed on Ovid MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus between January 1, 2012, and the search date of July 1, 2023. After screening 1,915 papers, a total of four publications that utilized elements of gamification in acquiring and/or improving orthopedic skills were included. Three studies showed a positive correlation between video gaming experience and orthopedic skill performance, acquisition, or both. One study showed a positive response from residents when training sessions were hosted in a competitive, but friendly environment with direct observation from their attendings. Gamified learning has the potential to improve orthopedic education, but its current use is largely unexplored. A competitive or rewarding environment promotes engagement and active learning. To enable the highest and most efficient level of training, future development should be geared toward virtual reality simulators that incorporate haptic feedback to better simulate other orthopedic-based tasks.