Strategies for Health: a game-based, interprofessional approach to teaching social determinants of health: a randomized controlled pilot study

A systematic review of 'equity-focused' game-based learning in the teaching of health staff

Background

An unequal distribution of the social determinants of health drives health inequalities. Existing training fails to communicate the impossible circumstances that disadvantaged groups face. Game-based learning is increasingly used as an innovative method with the potential to enhance health staff's ability to address health inequalities, but its effectiveness is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effectiveness of 'equity-focused' game-based learning in training health staff.

Study design

Systematic Review.

Methods

Three databases (Ovid Medline, Embase, Web of Science) and a citation search were systematically searched for articles from January 2010 to July 2023, reporting on effectiveness of 'equity-focused' game-based learning. Titles and abstracts were screened using eligibility criteria to identify relevant studies. Data was extracted and the ROBINS-I tool was used to assess quality.

Results

The search identified 7615 articles, of which thirteen were included involving 2412 healthcare workers. A variety of game-based learning tools were found to have an overall positive effect on motivation, knowledge, attitudes, and engagement of health staff. However, the significance of the results varied depending on specific game context. All included studies were judged to have serious to critical risk of bias.

Conclusions

Game-based learning has the potential to improve the effectiveness of 'equity-focused' training for health staff. Educators and researchers should further collaborate to expand the tools available and evaluate their effectiveness on long-term clinical practice.

Interprofessional communication skills training to improve medical students' and nursing trainees' error communication - quasi-experimental pilot study

BACKGROUND

Interprofessional communication is of extraordinary importance for patient safety. To improve interprofessional communication, joint training of the different healthcare professions is required in order to achieve the goal of effective teamwork and interprofessional care. The aim of this pilot study was to develop and evaluate a joint training concept for nursing trainees and medical students in Germany to improve medication error communication.

METHODS

We used a mixed-methods, quasi-experimental study with a pre-post design and two study arms. This study compares medical students (3rd year) and nursing trainees (2nd year) who received an interprofessional communication skills training with simulation persons (intervention group, IG) with a control group (CG). Both cohorts completed identical pre- and post-training surveys using the German Interprofessional Attitudes Scale (G-IPAS) and a self-developed interprofessional error communication scale. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney-U-test and Wilcoxon-test were performed to explore changes in interprofessional error communication.

RESULTS

A total of 154 were medical students, and 67 were nursing trainees (IG: 66 medical students, 28 nursing trainees / CG: 88 medical students, 39 nursing trainees). After training, there were significant improvements observed in the "interprofessional error communication" scale (p < .001) and the "teamwork, roles, and responsibilities" subscale (p = .012). Median scores of the subscale "patient-centeredness" were similar in both groups and remained unchanged after training (median = 4.0 in IG and CG).

CONCLUSIONS

Future studies are needed to find out whether the training sustainably improves interprofessional teamwork regarding error communication in acute care.

Innovative Approach for Teaching Physician Assistant Students About Social Determinants of Health and Empowering Action

ABSTRACT

Social determinants, the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age, play a crucial role in the health of individuals. The University of South Dakota Physician Assistant Studies Program uses a multimodal approach to teaching social determinants of health (SDOH) to students. The SDOH learning session consists of assigned presession reading, a didactic presentation introducing SDOH and their impact, and a table-top activity that simulates how SDOH affect individuals. During the table-top activity a list of community resources is available to help students locate services for the game characters when other resources have been depleted. Prior to entering clinical rotations, students will briefly review SDOH identification and connection to services during a training session for patient encounter logging. A check for implementation of learning will occur during the clinical phase by reviewing students' patient encounter logs for the presence of SDOH-related diagnoses and CPT codes. Although screening to identify SDOH and assisting patients through connecting them to services is not standard in all healthcare systems, PA students with the knowledge and tools can be prepared to provide this component of care to their patients.