Hai Hu1,2,3, Zihan Liu4, Hao Li5,6. 1. Emergency Office of West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Sichuan, China. 2. China International Emergency Medical Team, Sichuan, China. 3. Management Office of Emergency Medical Rescue Base of Sichuan University, Sichuan, China. 4. West China School of Medicine of Sichuan University, Sichuan, China. 5. Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction of Sichuan University, Sichuan, China. 6. Disaster Medicine Center of Sichuan University, Sichuan, China.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the effectiveness of our game-based pedagogical technique by comparing the learning, enjoyment, interest, and motivation of medical students who learned about best practices for patient surge in a natural disaster with a novel game-based computer application, with those of medical students who learned about it with a traditional lecture. METHODS: We conducted our study by modifying an existing optional course in disaster medicine that we taught at Sichuan University. More specifically, in 2017, while our application was still in development, we taught this course by lecture. In this iteration, 63 third-grade medical students voluntarily joined our course as our 'lecture group.' Once our application was complete in 2018, 68 third-grade medical students voluntarily joined this course as the 'game group.' We examined the different effects of these learning methods on student achievement using pre -, post -, and final tests. RESULTS: Both teaching methods significantly increased short-term knowledge and there was no statistical difference between the 2 methods (p > 0.05). However, the game group demonstrated significantly higher knowledge retention than the traditional lecture group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our game-based computer application proved to be an effective tool for teaching medical students best practices for caring for patient surge in a natural disaster.
OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the effectiveness of our game-based pedagogical technique by comparing the learning, enjoyment, interest, and motivation of medical students who learned about best practices for patient surge in a natural disaster with a novel game-based computer application, with those of medical students who learned about it with a traditional lecture. METHODS: We conducted our study by modifying an existing optional course in disaster medicine that we taught at Sichuan University. More specifically, in 2017, while our application was still in development, we taught this course by lecture. In this iteration, 63 third-grade medical students voluntarily joined our course as our 'lecture group.' Once our application was complete in 2018, 68 third-grade medical students voluntarily joined this course as the 'game group.' We examined the different effects of these learning methods on student achievement using pre -, post -, and final tests. RESULTS: Both teaching methods significantly increased short-term knowledge and there was no statistical difference between the 2 methods (p > 0.05). However, the game group demonstrated significantly higher knowledge retention than the traditional lecture group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our game-based computer application proved to be an effective tool for teaching medical students best practices for caring for patient surge in a natural disaster.
Entities:
Keywords:
disaster; game-based learning; managing multiple patients; medical student education; serious game