Newsletter 2: September 2025

🎮 Gamification in Healthcare Education: Insights Across Disciplines

Healthcare education has always been challenging and sometimes stressful. Healthcare students (such as nursing and medical students) are required to learn vast amounts of theoretical knowledge, attend clinical skill laboratories and perform clinical practice at clinical settings. Similarly, dental students are expected to juggle clinical training with professional management skills. Traditional pedagogical approaches (encompassing lectures, exams, and clinical rotations) are essential. However, some healthcare educators often struggle to keep students engaged in a meaningful way.

Enter gamification: the integration of game-based elements into education. Far from being a distraction, gamification is increasingly viewed as a serious pedagogical tool that enhances motivation, knowledge retention, and emotional engagement. Recent research across nursing, medicine, dentistry, and psychology provides valuable insights into when and how gamification works best - and where caution is needed.

🚑 Nursing: When Games Build Confidence and Competence

Nursing has been one of the most active fields exploring gamification. Evidence suggests that game-based approaches do more than entertain, they improve both knowledge and practice. A randomized controlled trial suggested that a smartphone-based, serious game significantly improved students’ theoretical knowledge and hands-on skills in adult basic life support (Fijačko et al., 2024). In another study, gameplay performance in a simulation game was directly linked with higher surgical nursing knowledge, pointing to the potential of using in-game metrics as indicators of real-time learning progress (Koivisto et al., 2024). Even low-barrier tools such as Kahoot! Appeared to be effective. Gamified quizzes not only increased vaccination knowledge but also enhanced student satisfaction, collaboration, and engagement (Mohammadi et al., 2025).

The takeaway for nursing education is clear. Gamification helps bridge the gap between theory and practice, while also creating a more engaging and collaborative learning environment.

🩺 Medicine: Promising Gains, but Design Matters

Gamification has been promising in medical education, though findings remind us that design is critical. Gamified programs such as the Diabe-teach was found to improve undergraduates’ comprehension and retention of diabetes mellitus, a complex subject (Shadan et al., 2025). Beyond the classroom, gamification also benefits practicing physicians. A randomized controlled trial demonstrated that a serious game enhanced primary care physicians’ ability to diagnose and manage primary headaches (Tubelo et al., 2019).

However, not all outcomes have been positive. A randomized cross-over trial testing competitive gamification reported that leaderboards and competition actually undermined learning, increasing stress and discouraging collaboration (Kirsch & Spreckelsen, 2023). This highlights a crucial insight. While gamification can motivate, overly competitive designs may backfire in healthcare education, where teamwork and reflection are equally important.

😁 Dentistry: Beyond Clinical Skills

Dentistry has started to embrace gamification not only for clinical training but also for professional preparation. In one study, students who participated in a gamified virtual tour of dental practice management demonstrated greater cognitive engagement and knowledge than those in traditional approaches (Peanchitlertkajorn et al., 2024). This suggests that gamification can extend beyond clinical knowledge to areas like administration and management, preparing students for the multifaceted realities of professional life.

🧠 Psychology and Cognitive Benefits

The influence of gamification goes beyond domain-specific skills. A randomized controlled trial suggested that gamified learning environments improved not only cognitive outcomes but also emotional engagement and motivation (Coelho et al., 2025). This broader effect may help explain why gamification resonates so strongly in healthcare education. By tapping into emotional and motivational systems, gamification makes learning both effective and enjoyable.

🚀 Conclusion: Thoughtful Play for Serious Learning

Taken together, empirical evidence across the nursing, medicine, dentistry, and psychology disciplines has demonstrated that gamification is far more than a trend. It is a powerful educational approach that, when designed thoughtfully, has the potential to improve students’ knowledge, skills, motivation, and engagement. Nevertheless, research points to a crucial caveat: design determines success. Collaborative, feedback-rich gamification fosters positive outcomes, while poorly designed competitive systems may undermine them. As healthcare education continues to evolve, gamification offers a way to prepare learners for the complexity of professional practice - making the journey not only rigorous but also engaging, memorable, and motivating.

✨ Quick Insight

Gamification works best in healthcare education when it is designed to support collaboration, reflection, and meaningful engagement, transforming serious training into active and enjoyable learning.

Warm regards,

Associate Professor Dr. Piyanee Yobas (View Profile)

Principal Facilitator, NUS AI Health Community

PhD, RN, Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies

Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore

Shavonne (View Profile)

Research Assistant, NUS AI Health Community

Undergraduate, Major in Data Science and Analytics (Minor in Computer Science)

National University of Singapore

References

Coelho, F., Rando, B., Aparício, D., Pontífice-Sousa, P., Gonçalves, D., & Abreu, A. M. (2025). The impact of educational gamification on cognition, emotions, and motivation: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Computers in Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40692-025-00366-x

Fijačko, N., Masterson Creber, R., Metličar, Š., Strnad, M., Greif, R., Štiglic, G., & Skok, P. (2024). Effects of a serious smartphone game on nursing students' theoretical knowledge and practical skills in adult basic life support: Randomized wait list–controlled trial. JMIR Serious Games, 12(1), e56037. https://doi.org/10.2196/56037

Kirsch, J., & Spreckelsen, C. (2023). Caution with competitive gamification in medical education: Unexpected results of a randomized cross-over study. BMC Medical Education, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04258-5

Koivisto, J. M., Buure, T., Engblom, J., Meriläinen, M., Tuomikoski, A. M., Ruotsalainen, H., & Mikkonen, K. (2024). Association between game metrics in a simulation game and nursing students’ surgical nursing knowledge: A quasi-experimental study. BMC Nursing, 23, 16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-023-01668-0

Mohammadi, A., Aazami, S., & Azizifar, A. (2025). Nursing students learn vaccination using Kahoot! gamification: An intervention study of knowledge, satisfaction, interest, and collaboration. Nursing Research and Practice, 2025, 3518943. https://doi.org/10.1155/nrp/3518943

Peanchitlertkajorn, S., Reynolds, P. A., Chaisawas, M., Orprayoon, W., Muenpaiboon, N., Marom, T., Poonpol, T., & Pornprasertsuk, S. (2024). The impact of an online gamified virtual tour on cognitive enhancement in dental practice management. Scientific Reports, 14, 26975. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-75128-3

Shadan, M., Ismail, H., & Naushad, F. H. M. (2025). Diabe-teach: A randomized controlled trial of a gamified approach to enhance medical undergraduates’ knowledge and comprehension of diabetes mellitus. BMC Medical Education, 25, 17. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-06602-9

Tubelo, R. A., Portella, F. F., Gelain, M. A., Padoin, B. G., & Souza, D. O. (2019). Effect of a serious game on primary care physicians’ knowledge about primary headaches: A randomized controlled trial. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 129, 269–274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2019.08.004