eMedOffice: A web-based collaborative serious game for teaching optimal design of a medical practice

BMC Medical Education

Software

Andreas Hannig¹  Cord Spreckelsen¹  Stephan Jonas²  Monika Özman³  Nicole Kuth³ 

[1] Department of Medical Informatics, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany;Department of Medical Informatics, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany;Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Yale University School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, 06520, New Haven, CT, USA;Division of General Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Pauwelsstraße 30, 52074, Aachen, Germany;

关键词: Computer-Assisted Instruction/methods;    Games, Experimental;    Teaching/methods, Education, Medical;    Undergraduate/methods;    User-Computer Interface;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6920-12-104

 received in 2011-11-19, accepted in 2012-10-25,  发布年份 2012

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundPreparing medical students for the takeover or the start-up of a medical practice is an important challenge in Germany today. Therefore, this paper presents a computer-aided serious game (eMedOffice) developed and currently in use at the RWTH Aachen University Medical School. The game is part of the attempt to teach medical students the organizational and conceptual basics of the medical practice of a general practitioner in a problem-based learning environment. This paper introduces methods and concepts used to develop the serious game and describes the results of an evaluation of the game's application in curricular courses at the Medical School.ResultsResults of the conducted evaluation gave evidence of a positive learning effect of the serious game. Educational supervisors observed strong collaboration among the players inspired by the competitive gaming aspects. In addition, an increase in willingness to learn and the exploration of new self-invented ideas were observed and valuable proposals for further prospective enhancements were elicited. A statistical analysis of the results of an evaluation provided a clear indication of the positive learning effect of the game. A usability questionnaire survey revealed a very good overall score of 4.07 (5=best, 1=worst).ConclusionsWe consider web-based, collaborative serious games to be a promising means of improving medical education. The insights gained by the implementation of eMedOffice will promote the future development of more effective serious games for integration into curricular courses of the RWTH Aachen University Medical School.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Hannig et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012