As someone passionate about games and educational design, I’ve often encountered reservations when pitching game-based learning ideas in healthcare education. These concerns typically stem from two misconceptions:
The Perception of Games as Non-Serious: The word “game” often evokes thoughts of childhood, fun, and joy—elements that seem at odds with the serious nature of topics like cancer, depression, or menopause. Designing games for such sensitive subjects can be viewed as inappropriate or lacking in gravity.
The Association with Competition: The prevalence of gamified elements like points, badges, and leaderboards in online learning has led healthcare professionals to question the appropriateness of "gamification" in addressing critical issues.
Yet, serious games—also known as "applied games" or "simulation games"—are designed with objectives far beyond entertainment. They offer immersive environments for education, training, and skill development. Unlike gamification, which integrates game-like elements into learning experiences, serious games embed educational goals within their mechanics and narratives.
In this blog, I’ll explore the value of serious games in healthcare education, share examples of successful projects, and provide tips for designing meaningful educational games.
Why Serious Games Work in Healthcare Education
Serious games have proven to be effective tools for experiential learning. By placing players in simulated environments, they enable learners to:
Develop Empathy: Through lived experiences and interactive narratives, learners gain deeper insight into the challenges faced by others.
Enhance Decision-Making Skills: Games provide a safe space to practice responses to complex scenarios.
Promote Active Learning: Unlike passive text or video formats, serious games encourage learners to actively engage with the material.
Examples of Impactful Serious Games
1. Change: A Homeless Survival Experience
This game transforms lived experiences into metrics like money, mood, and hygiene, creating a powerful simulation of the challenges faced by individuals experiencing homelessness. By managing these metrics as the player, you experience firsthand the struggle of balancing life’s demands—building empathy in a way that’s difficult to achieve through traditional learning methods.
2. Before I Forget
A poignant narrative game about living with dementia, this game immerses players in the fragmented thoughts of someone navigating the condition. With its non-linear storytelling and interactive elements, it effectively fosters understanding and empathy for people living with dementia.
While these commercial games are impactful, they often require more time and budget than is feasible for healthcare training. However, their principles can inform smaller-scale projects tailored to specific healthcare education needs.
EL Healthcare Education Serious Game: ListenIn
At EL Healthcare Education, we’ve developed several games, including "ListenIn", a serious game designed to help healthcare professionals identify signs of depression in older adults. Developed in collaboration with the Older Adults Mental Health Team, this interactive story-based game places learners in the role of a befriender, exploring the lives of three characters to build trust and understand their unique challenges.
Key Design Considerations:
Time Efficiency: Gameplay was kept under 20 minutes to fit typical training sessions.
Accessibility: The game was designed for ease of use, even for learners with little gaming experience.
Stakeholder Collaboration: We worked with advisory groups, care home residents, and stakeholders to ensure the scenarios and dialogue were authentic and aligned with learning objectives.
You can try a demo of ListenIn here.
For full training, NHS professionals can access the course on the NHS Learning Hub.
Learn more about this project on our website.
Designing Serious Games: Tips for Success
Focus on Learning Objectives: Embed educational goals into the game’s core mechanics.
Collaborate with Experts: Work with subject matter experts to ensure accuracy and relevance.
Prioritise Empathy: Use storytelling and character-driven narratives to foster emotional connections.
Test for Accessibility: Design with diverse learners in mind, including those with minimal gaming experience.
The Value of Experiential Learning
As educational theorist David Kolb explains, experiential learning involves a cycle of concrete experiences, reflection, abstract conceptualisation, and active experimentation. Serious games are ideal for facilitating this process, providing learners with a safe environment to apply new skills and insights.
At EL Healthcare Education, we aim to challenge misconceptions about gaming and expand our portfolio of serious games. By leveraging the immersive potential of games, we can create healthcare training that surpasses the limitations of traditional e-learning, offering deeper engagement and better outcomes.
Explore the Potential of Serious Games
If you’re interested in using serious games to transform healthcare education, contact us to learn more about how we can help you create impactful and meaningful learning experiences.
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