Gamification in Ophthalmic Education: Current Practices, Challenges, and Future Directions
Game design has been increasingly incorporated into medical education based on principles of increasing engagement and motivation for learning. There is strong evidence that gamification and simulation can improve performance in motor-skill-based tasks and mixed evidence on the effects on short-term and long-term knowledge retention. Ophthalmology is a speciality which combines theoretical knowledge and technical proficiency so it provides an excellent atmosphere for the testing of game-based medical education methods. A search was performed for studies that used gamification in ophthalmology education. The search was purposefully kept broad due to the relative scarcity of studies on this topic and the exploratory nature of the review. This review assesses the different gamification methods in ophthalmology education and appraises their strengths and limitations, offering potential methods for future gamification studies to adopt. Simulators such as the Eyesi have many components of game theory in their development and provide tangible and translatable benefits to clinical practice. These improvements must be weighed against cost-benefit analyses in future studies. Further studies on gamified teaching should assess the short-term and long-term retention impact, and effects of knowledge, skills and behaviours versus a control group.