Serious games for patient safety education

Dear Sir

Learning to communicate and collaborate effectively within an interprofessional healthcare team is key to improving patient safety. One of the barriers to this learning is a culture where team members do not feel psychologically safe to speak up or make decisions that might improve patient safety.

With serious games – or video games for educational purposes – the learner can explore and learn about patient safety issues on their own in a safe environment before encountering challenges in the real world. Serious games engage the learner through exploration and experimentation, and support learning through increased visualization and creativity (Westera et al. 2008; Mansour & El-Said 2009).This experience can be enhanced through debriefing exercises facilitated by an instructor or reflective practice.

The purpose of this study is to pilot test an inexpensive prototype of a serious game with a group of interprofessional health students to determine if the game provides opportunities to learn about patient safety. The game was constructed around a series of scenarios created in consultation with a physician, enabling the player to explore patient safety-related learning objectives within a virtual hospital setting. Players enter into conversations with characters and choose what response to provide from a given selection. At the end of the game, students review their actions, and are provided feedback about their choices.

Fourteen participants tested the prototype and filled out the questionnaire. The evaluation of the prototype demonstrated that there is potential for this tool to help students learn to overcome some of the barriers to communications and teamwork that can lead to improved patient safety. The participants enjoyed playing the game, learned something about team communications and thought this was a valid method for learning about patient safety. In addition, this game would be of great benefit to teaching through reflective practice.