The effect of gamified workshops on nurses' evidence-based practice competence: A randomized controlled trial

To evaluate the effectiveness of a gamified educational workshop on nurses' evidence-based practice competence, self-efficacy, attitudes, satisfaction and practice report completion.

Evidence-based practice is essential for high-quality healthcare; however, teaching and sustaining its use remains challenging. Gamification may enhance motivation, engagement and learning outcomes in nursing education.

Randomized controlled trial.

gov Identifier: NCT06531187; registered July 28, 2024; first participant enrolled on April 9, 2020.

A total of 102 nurses from a medical center in Taiwan were randomly assigned to either a gamified workshop group (n = 54) or a control group (n = 48), which received case-based small-group discussions. Both groups attended a 40-minute lecture before the intervention. The gamified workshop, guided by the Octalysis framework, incorporated points, badges, leaderboards and time-limited team challenges. Outcomes were measured at baseline, immediately post-intervention and six months later. Generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the effects of the intervention.

Both groups improved in competence, self-efficacy and attitudes immediately post-intervention. At six months, the gamified group maintained greater improvements in overall competence (B = 1.37, p = 0.023), especially in the "acquire" (d = 0.50) and appraise (d = 0.45) domains. The gamified group also reported higher satisfaction (p < 0.001) and completed practice reports faster (p = 0.043), although report passing rates were similar between groups.

Gamified education enhanced and sustained nurses' evidence-based competence. This approach may provide an effective strategy for promoting the timely and confident application of evidence in clinical settings.