Using gaming to prepare health professional students to practice systems thinking.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare education
• Interprofessional learning
• Systems thinking in healthcare

Background:

• Healthcare professionals face challenges impacting patient outcomes.
• Formal training in systems thinking is often lacking for health professional students.
• Experiential learning is crucial for developing critical healthcare competencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an interprofessional education activity in enhancing systems thinking skills among health professional students.
• To provide students with practical experience in applying systems thinking principles.
• To bridge the gap between didactic learning and real-world healthcare challenges.

Main Methods:

• The Friday Night at the ER (FNER) activity was implemented as part of interprofessional curricula.
• A total of 1033 students across nursing, pharmacy, nutrition, and speech-language pathology participated.
• The Systems Thinking Scale was administered pre- and post-activity to measure changes in scores.

Main Results:

• Student scores on the Systems Thinking Scale significantly increased post-FNER (p < 0.001).
• The activity demonstrated a measurable improvement in students' capacity for systems thinking.
• The intervention was effective across diverse health professional disciplines.

Conclusions:

• The FNER activity is a valuable interprofessional learning experience.
• This experiential approach effectively prepares students for practicing systems thinking in healthcare.
• Enhanced systems thinking skills can lead to improved healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.