Choose your own adventure: Perception of gamification in continuing pharmacy education

Abstract

Background

Literature detailing the implementation of gamification strategies, including ‘choose your own adventure’ (CYOA) patient cases, in continuing professional development within the pharmacy profession is limited. CYOA-style activities have had positive impacts on student cohorts. This report details attendees' perceptions of a continuing pharmacy education presentation at a national pharmacy conference that utilized gamification for content delivery.

Educational activity

An educational session was developed to use gamification to teach important concepts in the management of asthma. Presenters worked together to create ‘choose your own adventure’ (CYOA) activities as the gamification style for the session. Learning intentions were set for both cases based on important clinical considerations for pharmacists. A mixed methods approach was utilized to provide a descriptive evaluation of the CYOA educational session based on attendees' feedback. A survey was developed by the session moderators and distributed to attendees at the end of the session. A qualitative analysis was also conducted to analyze open-ended response questions within the end of session survey and the standardized session evaluation.

Evaluation findings

A total of 227 evaluations were submitted. Ninety-eight percent of respondents agreed or strongly agreed they would recommend the activity to a friend or colleague and were satisfied with the educational content and format of the activity.

Analysis of educational activity

Incorporating gamification techniques, such as CYOA, into continuing pharmacy education presents a valuable opportunity for practitioners.