Gamification of emergency medicine cost awareness education

Background

Despite rising costs of health care, physician awareness of costs remains poor. Educational initiatives to remedy this have shown promise, with gamification specifically having success, but actual improvements in physician estimation capabilities have yet to be evaluated.

Objectives

The objective of the study was to assess a gamified educational session for emergency medicine residents that improved their ability to estimate the costs of tests or services commonly performed in their department.

Methods

Participants completed an anonymous presession survey consisting of demographic data, self-analysis on cost awareness, and a 10-item cost estimation list. This was followed by a 1-h interactive gamified education session utilizing rules from the television show The Price is Right. During this session, only three of the survey items had their cost directly discussed such that the remaining seven were able to be assessed solely on estimation improvement instead of short-term knowledge retention. Participants then completed the same survey to assess for improvement in cost awareness.

Results

Sixteen residents at the PGY-2 or PGY-3 level completed the surveys and education session. All self-analysis questions showed significant improvement in the postsession survey. Eight out of the 10 items had significant differences in cost estimation.

Conclusions

A gamified teaching session using The Price is Right rules can improve a resident's estimation capabilities, even on items not directly taught during the session.