Game changer: Pharmacy students' perceptions of an educational "Party Hat" game to enhance communication and collaboration skills

Integrating real-world skills and diabetes lifestyle coach training into a revised health promotion and communications course

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

Effective communication skills are essential for all pharmacists, regardless of practice setting. An implicit need in pharmacy education is to emphasize direct application of these skills to future healthcare practice prior to experiential rotations. The aim of this article is to describe how we revised a required first professional year (P1) doctor of pharmacy course to achieve two main goals: 1) improve the course relevance by connecting content to real-world skills; and 2) qualify all pharmacy students at our institution as certified National Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle coaches upon course completion.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

Lifestyle coach training approved by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was integrated into a P1 communications course consisting of 14 modules that include: review of diabetes pathophysiology, group facilitation skills, social determinants of health, food tracking, action planning, participant retention and program administration. This content serves as a direct application of pre-existing course objectives related to knowledge (evidence-based theory) and skills (technical and counseling) required for effective communication with patients, families, and health professionals.

FINDINGS

Between 2019 and 2022, the redesigned course was offered to 373 P1 students. Course evaluations during this time were consistently positive. The average evaluation score since DPP activities were integrated into the course was 3.41 (on a 4-point scale). Based upon course evaluations, students appreciated three main benefits of incorporating lifestyle coach certification into the pharmacy curriculum: 1) a certified skill that can differentiate them in the job market; 2) practice of skills on real patients under faculty supervision in the community setting; 3) early exposure to pharmacy patient care topics, thus contributing to professional identity.

SUMMARY

Integration of lifestyle coach training into an existing core P1 pharmacy course increased application and assessment of communications skills and allowed wider availability of trained coaches to deliver DPP in the community.

Gamification in pharmacy education: a systematic quantitative literature review

OBJECTIVES

Gamification involves applying game attributes to non-game contexts and its educational use is increasing. It is essential to review the outcomes and the efficacy of gamification to identify evidence to support its use in pharmacy education.

THIS ARTICLE

systematically and quantitatively reviews and evaluates the alignment of learning outcomes and the quality of peer-reviewed literature reporting gamification in pharmacy education.

KEY FINDINGS

A literature search was undertaken in February 2022 using CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE, Science Direct, Scopus and ERIC databases, via keywords (game* OR gaming OR gamif*) AND pharmac* AND education. Google Scholar was searched using 'gamification of pharmacy education' and 'serious games in pharmacy education'. Data extracted included type of gamified intervention, mode of delivery, game fidelity, intended learning outcomes and outcomes reported. Quality assessments aligned with key aspects of the SQUIRE-EDU Reporting Guidelines. Of 759 abstracts and 95 full-text papers assessed, 66 articles met the inclusion criteria. They described gamification from 12 countries in the education of 8272 pharmacy and health professional students. Gamified interventions ranged from board games to immersive simulations, with escape rooms most frequently reported. Reporting quality was inconsistent, with observed misalignment between intended learning outcomes and outcomes reported, an apparent overreliance on student perceptions as primary data and a lack of reference to reporting guidelines.

SUMMARY

Gamification is included in the curricula of many pharmacy degrees, across multiple subject areas. This review identified evidence gaps and reinforces the need for improved quality of gamification research, critical alignment of learning outcomes with evaluation, and use of reporting guidelines.