Teaching and learning matters: Designing a serious game with adaptive expertise in electrolyte cases

Area of Science:

• Pharmacy Education
• Medical Simulation
• Educational Technology

Background:

• Adaptive expertise is crucial for pharmacists, requiring application of knowledge in complex, unfamiliar situations.
• Serious games are emerging as novel instructional tools in pharmacy education to foster adaptive expertise.
• A serious game was developed to simulate patient condition changes, promoting productive failure and case-based learning.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a serious game on second-year pharmacy students' knowledge and confidence in managing electrolyte disorders.
• To assess student perceptions of a serious game adapted for remote learning.
• To explore the potential of serious games in developing adaptive expertise in pharmacy students.

Main Methods:

• An electrolyte disorder serious game was implemented with second-year pharmacy students at VCU SOP in small groups.
• Patient cases incorporated simulated clinical variability through random changes at key decision points.
• The game was delivered synchronously via Zoom, adapting from its original in-person design.

Main Results:

• A significant improvement in total knowledge scores was observed, increasing from 60.6% to 75.3%.
• Self-rated confidence significantly increased across all five learning objectives.
• Most students reported positive perceptions, noting the game encouraged new ways of thinking, though some experienced stress.

Conclusions:

• The serious game effectively increased student knowledge and confidence in managing electrolyte disorders.
• While the activity was positively received, further methods are needed to capture changes in adaptive expertise.
• The study highlights the potential and limitations of serious games in pharmacy education, particularly in remote settings.