How Serious Games are Changing Healthcare Training & Development

It's not an exaggeration to say games are the building blocks of learning. As children, we developed life skills through game scenarios, such as how to be a grown-up by pretend-playing family, how to kick a ball by engaging in various sports, and how to be competitive by engaging in team-play. Psychologists have long cited the power games have for committing vital information to our long-term memory.

The same goes for serious games, regardless of the industry utilizing them. For example, game-based learning (GBL) for healthcare employees can significantly reduce stress caused by extensive responsibilities and difficult situations.

Serious Games in Training

The Stories Games Tell

Games tell a story, and we are mainly attracted to them because we want to find out how it ends. If a game offers the right level of immersion, it becomes about us. It's almost like finding out how our own journey ends. In eLearning, well-made serious games can provide that same feeling of being the protagonist of our own story. Immersive and engaging serious games give learners a balanced amount of valuable information versus enjoyment which can redefine your Learning and Development (L&D) department.

Competition as a Challenge

Games tap into our competitive nature. Rewards, badges, and leader boards are game elements that, if strategically included in a serious game, can keep learners engaged, make them feel challenged, and can result in higher learning satisfaction.

Ready for Learning

Serious games make it easy for employees to want to learn. You can create a learning experience that focuses on improving specific skill sets and improve knowledge retention by using clear and concise content. Employee learners should have access to this type of learning anytime, anywhere, and from any device. An at-your-own-pace approach to serious games can take the pressure off learners while advancing skill and knowledge acquisition.

Three, two, one… Engage!

An efficient user experience (UX), combined with a visually-appealing user interface (UX), will create a valuable course. Humans are visual creatures, so it's vital we're immersed in what we are viewing during a serious gaming experience.

All Aboard The Success Express

Serious games impact two crucial areas of learning and development: performance and interaction. If employee performance speaks to personal job satisfaction, then peer-to-peer interaction speaks to successful collaboration. Employees engaged in high-quality serious games become a driving force for any organization, including healthcare.

Serious Games in Healthcare

Healthcare training and development departments have been on board with eLearning and alternative learning models from their inception. One reason for this is the nerve-wracking experience some healthcare professionals experience when dealing with real-life situations. Touch the wrong nerve during surgery, and the patient could lose their ability to walk. Exhibit the erroneous action with a therapy patient, and you might undo years of recovery in a second. Serious games, simulations, and virtual reality (VR) are all effective mediums used to reduce stress, fear of failure, and unnecessary risks in the workplace. You need to nurture employees into being confident in their knowledge and skill. By doing so, they will be able to envision multiple solutions for the same problem.

By implementing scenario-based game-play into healthcare intended games, you can develop your employees' problem-solving skills. Learners can view a problem from various perspectives and experience the consequences of their decisions in real-time, without on-the-job risks.

Allowing any time, anywhere, at-your-own-pace learning for healthcare employees is imperative in a time-pressed industry. You can create serious games for topics such as compliance training, onboarding, infection prevention control, and the Health and Safety act, among others. Healthcare organizations report efficient cost-cutting, higher employee compliance, and increased quality of care after implementing serious games.

Giving players control of their learning experience leads to success. Game-based learning is a safe training method in the healthcare industry that demands expert knowledge and exacting action.

Conclusion

The adoption of serious games in healthcare has led to long-term benefits. It continues to enhance standards of care in numerous areas of the industry. Challenging and immersive learning experiences grant learners the opportunity to grow in a stress-free and enjoyable environment.

If you would like to learn more about online training and how it could benefit your workforce, please contact our team or check out our additional resources today.

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