Gamification as a tool for resident education in otolaryngology: A pilot study

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Graduate medical education (GME) is constantly evolving to meet the needs of a new generation of medical residents. To balance the time constraints of patient care and procurement of knowledge during surgical residency training, new approaches to traditional GME are desired. One emerging educational strategy is the incorporation of gamification into the educational curriculum. Gamification refers to the process of using game mechanics to enhance user engagement and problem solving. This often takes the form of multimedia educational platforms such as online question banks or smartphone applications, and are interactive in nature. Specific to medical education, the use of gamification techniques has been shown to increase performance on a variety of fronts, including improvements in surgical techniques, surgical decision making, and increased knowledge retention on in-service training examinations. Our institution recently developed a software program to incorporate gamification elements into an online question bank. A previous retrospective study noted an association between the Otolaryngology Training Examination (OTE) and the passage rate of first-time examinees on the American Board of Otolaryngology Written Qualifying Examination (WQE). Residents who score in the bottom quartile in both their final years of training are at significantly higher risk of failing the WQE on the first attempt. The purpose of this study was to assess the use of a novel gamification-based medical knowledge software designed to supplement traditional classroom type GME and to determine whether this would affect OTE examination scores.