Digital Game-Based Learning and Serious Games in Physician Assistant Education

Authors

Agnes Compagnone, Florida State UniversityFollow

Specialty

PA Education

Advisor

Laura Witte

Abstract

Physician assistant educators continuously strive and seek innovative solutions to improve education opportunities and student learning experiences for their adult learners. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of digital game-based learning (DGBL) and serious games(SG), review the advantages and challenges of DGBL and SG, and share resources to assist PA educators with the integration of these novel approaches into PA curricula.

Digital game-based learning as a means of active learning is becoming an increasingly popular educational resource in medical education, allied health professions, and higher education science-based programs. A recent retrospective five-year PubMed literature search was conducted with the keyword search terms ‘digital game-based learning,’ and ‘medical education’ retrieved 107 articles. A similar PubMed literature search using key search terms ‘digital game-based learning’ and ‘physician assistant education’ keywords retrieved zero resources.

The limited DGBL and SG scholarly publication findings and studies related to their effectiveness in medical education and PA education are opportunities for PA educators to explore DGBL and SG research specifically to PA education.

Recommended Citation

Compagnone A. Digital Game-Based Learning and Serious Games in Physician Assistant Education. University of Lynchburg DMSc Doctoral Project Assignment Repository. 2021; 3(1).