Nathan Barber
Gamification enhances participant experience in undergraduate medical education.
Mentor: William Auffermann, MD, PHD
Department: Radiology
Background/Purpose
Gamification in medical education has demonstrated increased didactic effectiveness, positive user experience, and is increasing in prevalence. Stab the Diagnosis (Stdx) is a program that utilizes gamification to enhance medical imaging education.
Methods
Second and Fourth year undergraduate medical students participated in an in-person seminar. All received a fundamentals of image interpretation lecture. Application followed which utilized the RadSimPE software. Participants were divided into control and experimental groups, each completing three sets of 10 cases that contained CT cross-section with or without an abnormality. Participants utilized the software to mark the suspected abnormality. They then characterized the lesion from a list of options and rated their confidence on an increasing scale from 1-5. The control received case-specific educational materials initially, while the experimental received them intermittently throughout the session. All participants received the same education by the session’s conclusion. Subsequently, participants were asked to rate their perceived experience.
Results
Survey data demonstrated preliminarily that 100% “Agreed” that the session developed ability in abnormality identification, increased confidence, and that the session was more educationally useful than didactic lectures alone. Additionally, 100% “Strongly Agreed” that the simulated workstation developed skills applicable to image interpretation generally, and that it would be helpful to further learn about topics in radiology.
Conclusions
Stdx is an effective option for the application of gamification in undergraduate medical education and demonstrates increased participant satisfaction, confidence, and skill development.
