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

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Evidence-Based Practice

Background:

• Evidence-based practice (EBP) is crucial for high-quality healthcare but challenging to teach and sustain.
• Gamification offers a potential strategy to boost motivation, engagement, and learning in nursing education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the effectiveness of a gamified educational workshop on nurses' evidence-based practice competence, self-efficacy, attitudes, satisfaction, and practice report completion.
• To compare a gamified workshop approach against traditional case-based discussions in nursing education.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled trial involving 102 nurses in Taiwan.
• Intervention groups included a gamified workshop (using Octalysis framework elements like points, badges, leaderboards) and a control group with case-based discussions.
• Outcomes were measured at baseline, immediately post-intervention, and six months later, analyzed using generalized estimating equations.

Main Results:

• Both groups showed immediate post-intervention improvements in competence, self-efficacy, and attitudes.
• The gamified group demonstrated sustained and greater improvements in overall evidence-based practice competence at six months, particularly in "acquire" and "appraise" domains.
• Nurses in the gamified group reported higher satisfaction and faster practice report completion.

Conclusions:

• Gamified education effectively enhances and sustains nurses' evidence-based practice competence.
• This gamification strategy shows promise for promoting the timely and confident application of evidence in clinical practice.
• Gamification can be a valuable tool for improving nursing education and healthcare quality.