Gamification and decision-making
Might a board game help nursing students develop clinical decision-making skills and knowledge prioritisation? An SIT team investigated.
Nurses make clinical decisions that affect the health of their clients. Clinical decision-making is one of the fundamental skills that must be developed while studying for the Bachelor of Nursing, but many graduate nurses feel nervous and unconfident of their preparedness for clinical practice. Clinical decision-making is not easy to teach, so innovative learning activities may help to increase the work-readiness of new graduate nurses.
Gamification uses game design elements in a non-game environment and is beginning to be used in health education. Jenica Ana Rivero, Malinda Hill and Analise Wilson at Southern Institute of Technology explored the impact of the board game The Floor©, an Emergency Department Simulation, on the clinical decision-making skills and prioritisation knowledge of 60 third year New Zealand nursing students. With permission from the game manufacturers, some concepts in the game were renamed for the New Zealand and local context.
Recruited participants were randomly assigned to either a control group (49 participants) or an experimental group (59). Both groups were given a questionnaire but the experimental group played the board game before answering. Clinical decision-making of participants was evaluated using the existing Clinical Decision Making in Nursing Scale (CDMNS). The questionnaires also covered participants' level of knowledge on prioritisation, and their demographic information.
There was no significant difference in overall CDMNS results between the control group and experimental group. But facilitators of the game could see the student players using their clinical decision-making as they played. The experimental group did score better on prioritisation than the control group, triaging patients and their needs based on degree of urgency. This activity could enhance learning by providing an opportunity to practice clinical decision making in a fun, safe, and engaging way.
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