Analog Serious Games for Medical Education: A Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Game-Based Learning

Background:

• Serious games are increasingly utilized in medical education to enhance learner engagement.
• Analog serious games, a non-digital subset, serve specific educational purposes beyond mere entertainment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review of literature on analog serious games in medical education.
• To identify gaps and emerging directions for future research in this field.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review was performed using the Arksey and O'Malley framework.
• Searches were conducted across MEDLINE, Embase, and CINAHL databases for studies published between January 2013 and December 2023.
• Data extraction and iterative analysis were performed by multiple authors.

Main Results:

• Eighty-eight records met inclusion criteria, with publication peaks in 2019 and 2023.
• Descriptive studies were the most common scholarship type (72%), with board games (58%) and card games (38%) being dominant formats.
• Studies primarily involved medical students (68%) and residents/fellows (44%).

Conclusions:

• The field of analog serious games in medical education has shown moderate growth.
• Analog serious games can meaningfully complement traditional pedagogical approaches for physician-track learners.
• Further research is needed to explore the full potential of these non-digital learning tools.