Assessment of the educational and entertainment value of the serious antibiotic game: "AntibioLab"

A serious game is a learning tool stimulating the participant's interest through its original pedagogical approach. We aimed to assess the value of AntibioLab, a serious game designed to review antibiotic prescribing.

AntibioLab is a card game designed for common infectious diseases. A prospective single-center pilot study was performed with medical students. The AntibioLab group played two sessions one week apart, and the control group had to review the items corresponding to the serious game on their own between each questionnaire. Knowledge acquisition was assessed before the game, seven days after and at three months, with multiple-choice questions. A Likert-scale questionnaire was used to assess the game's entertainment and pedagogical contribution. The primary endpoint (final score) was compared between groups using ANCOVA.

Thirty-nine students (n = 21 AntibioLab group, n = 18 Control group) were included. The mean score at Day 0 was 10.8 ± 2.9 out of 20 without any significant difference between groups. At Month 3, the mean score was higher in the AntibioLab group (12.9 ± 3.0 and 10.5 ± 2.2 respectively, p = 0.03). In the longitudinal analysis, the score evolution between Day 0, Day 7 and Month 3 was not statistically different between the groups. In the AntibioLab group, students who responded to the questionnaire (n = 20) found the game fun, challenging and recommended it.

We highlighted the value of AntibioLab for consolidating knowledge in antibiotic therapy. Feedback from participants about the game's benefits was excellent. AntibioLab could be an additional tool to review infectious diseases.