Play and Learn for Surgeons: A Serious Game to Educate Medical Residents in Uterine Artery Ligation Surgery.

Objective: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is a leading cause of maternal mortality. Surgical interventions, such as uterine artery ligation and utero-ovarian arteries ligation (UAL and UOAL), are considered as effective methods to control PPH. Owing to PPH's severe outcomes, various educational tools have been developed to train surgical residents. A potential educational medium for this purpose could be serious digital games. In this pilot study, we assessed the usability and effectiveness of a serious game to promote the surgical skills of UAL/UOAL among obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) residents. Methods: We designed and developed the Play and Learn for Surgeons (PLS) game to train OB/GYN residents. We assessed and compared the usability challenges of PLS before and after revising the game. To assess the effectiveness of PLS, residents were allocated randomly in control and intervention groups. Surgical skills of the residents were assessed pre- and post-test using the Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills checklist. Setting: This pilot study took place at the OB/GYN wards of Omolbanin Hospital (Mashhad University of Medical Sciences) and Imam Ali Hospital (Zahedan University of Medical Sciences) in Iran. Participants: Thirteen subject matter experts (nine OB/GYN experts and four senior clinical assistants) participated in the user interface design and usability assessment of PLS. Total of 46 OB/GYN residents participated in the educational effectiveness analysis of PLS. All participants were female with mean ages of 40.6, 29.9 and 28.0 years for OB/GYN experts, assistants, and residents, accordingly. Results: All participants completed the study. PLS significantly improved the skills of residents for UAL (P-value = 0.018) and UOAL (P-value <0.001) procedures. Conclusion: Serious games can be an effective and affordable approach in training OB/GYN residents for UAL and UOAL procedures. Approval number: (# IR.MUMS.fm.REC.1396.345) Trial registration number: (# IRCT2017092436366N1).

Health Education Serious Games Targeting Health Care Providers, Patients, and Public Health Users: Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Serious educational games have shown effectiveness in improving various health outcomes. Previous reviews of health education games have focused on specific diseases, certain medical subjects, fixed target groups, or limited outcomes of interest. Given the recent surge in health game studies, a scoping review of health education games is needed to provide an updated overview of various aspects of such serious games. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of the design and evaluation of serious educational games for health targeting health care providers, patients, and public (health) users. METHODS: We identified 2313 studies using a unique combination of keywords in the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases. A total of 161 studies were included in this review after removing duplicates (n=55) and excluding studies not meeting our inclusion criteria (1917 based on title and abstract and 180 after reviewing the full text). The results were stratified based on games targeting health care providers, patients, and public users. RESULTS: Most health education games were developed and evaluated in America (82/161, 50.9%) and Europe (64/161, 39.8%), with a considerable number of studies published after 2012. We discovered 58.4% (94/161) of studies aiming to improve knowledge learning and 41.6% (67/161) to enhance skill development. The studies targeted various categories of end users: health care providers (42/161, 26.1%), patients (38/161, 23.6%), public users (75/161, 46.6%), and a mix of users (6/161, 3.7%). Among games targeting patients, only 13% (6/44) targeted a specific disease, whereas a growing majority targeted lifestyle behaviors, social interactions, cognition, and generic health issues (eg, safety and nutrition). Among 101 studies reporting gameplay specifications, the most common gameplay duration was 30 to 45 min. Of the 61 studies reporting game repetition, only 14% (9/61) of the games allowed the users to play the game with unlimited repetitions. From 32 studies that measured follow-up duration after the game intervention, only 1 study reported a 2-year postintervention follow-up. More than 57.7% (93/161) of the games did not have a multidisciplinary team to design, develop, or assess the game. CONCLUSIONS: Serious games are increasingly used for health education targeting a variety of end users. This study offers an updated scoping review of the studies assessing the value of serious games in improving health education. The results showed a promising trend in diversifying the application of health education games that go beyond a specific medical condition. However, our findings indicate the need for health education game development and adoption in developing countries and the need to focus on multidisciplinary teamwork in designing effective health education games. Furthermore, future health games should expand the duration and repetition of games and increase the length of the follow-up assessments to provide evidence on long-term effectiveness.