Levelling Up Medical Education: The Power of Gamification
Abstract
Medical education has long relied on traditional teaching methods, including lectures, textbooks, and clinical rotations. While these methods provide a strong theoretical foundation, they often fail to engage students in active learning. In response to this challenge, gamification has emerged as an innovative approach to medical training, incorporating game mechanics such as points, leaderboards, and interactive simulations to enhance learning outcomes. Studies indicate that gamification significantly improves knowledge retention, student motivation, and collaborative learning, making it an effective strategy for modern medical education.
This editorial explores the role of gamification in medical education, its benefits, applications, and challenges, and highlights strategies for its successful integration into curricula.
How to cite this article:
Raj D. Levelling Up Medical Education: The Power
of Gamification. Chettinad Health City Med J.
2025;14(1):1-3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.24321/2278.2044.202501
References
Stewart J, Misuraca G. The industry and policy context for digital games for empowerment and inclusion: market analysis, future prospects, and key challenges in videogames, serious games and gamification. Joint Research Centre of the European Commission; 2013. [Google Scholar]
Aynsley S, Ball V, Berry J, Hancock A, Harrison R, Maddock K, Morris A, Pooler A, Procter P, Crawford R. Pedagogic development of a gamified approach to enhancing engagement in interprofessional education. Compass. 2022 Feb 24;15(1):1-9. [Google Scholar]
Carreiro A, Silva C, Antunes M. The use of gamification on cybersecurity awareness of healthcare professionals.
Procedia Comput Sci. 2024;239:526-33. [Google Scholar]
Gentry SV, Gauthier A, Ehrstrom BL, Wortley D, Lilienthal A, Car LT, Dauwels-Okutsu S, Nikolaou CK, Zary N, Campbell J, Car J. Serious gaming and gamification education in health professions: systematic review. J
Med Internet Res. 2019 Mar;21(3):e12994. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Wang R, DeMaria S Jr, Goldberg A, Katz D. A systematic review of serious games in training health care professionals. Simul Healthc. 2016;11(1):41-51. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Leitão R, Rodrigues JM, Marcos AF. Mobile learning: benefits of augmented reality in geometry teaching. In: Mehdi Khosrow-Pour DB, editor. Enhancing art, culture, and design with technological integration. IGI
Global; 2018. [Google Scholar]
Andriamiarisoa R. Impact of gamification on student engagement in graduate medical studies. Walden
University; 2018. [Google Scholar]
Graafland M, Schraagen JM, Schijven MP. Systematic review of serious games for medical education and surgical skills training. Br J Surg. 2012 Oct;99(10):1322-30. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Ismail MA, Ahmad A, Mohammad JA, Fakri NM, Nor MZ, Pa MN. Using Kahoot! as a formative assessment tool in medical education: a phenomenological study. BMC Med Educ. 2019;19(1):230. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Castellano-Tejedor C, Cencerrado A. Gamification for mental health and health psychology: insights at the first quarter mark of the 21st century. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2024 Jul 28;21(8):990. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Guckian J, Eveson L, May H. The great escape? The rise of the escape room in medical education. Future
Healthc J. 2020 Jun;7(2):112-5. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Bick M, Böckle M, Micheel I, Novak K. Adaptive gamification design. AISeL; 2018.
Nowbuth AA, Asombang AW, Alaboud K, Souque C, Dahu BM, Pather K, Mwanza MM, Lotfi S, Parmar VS. Gamification as an educational tool to address antimicrobial resistance: a systematic review. JAC
Antimicrob Resist. 2023 Dec;5(6):dlad130. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
Asgodom K, Gutierrez S, Law A, Khan M. Merging realities for better health: a dive into virtual healthcare. J Strateg Innov Sustain. 2024;19(3):69-88. [Google Scholar]