Author: Tiffany Ang, Class of 2025

Figure 1: Healthcare professionals use virtual reality simulations to practice dexterity and visual-spatial skills for medical procedures to boost confidence and mitigate knowledge gaps. 

Gaming science is increasingly integrated into medical education to enhance learning and skill development. Games inherently include gamification elements, such as point systems, that foster active learning and have the potential to improve knowledge retention and address knowledge gaps. Technologies like virtual reality are now utilized in the medical field to simulate real-world clinical scenarios, providing medical students with opportunities to practice skills in a risk-free virtual environment. These interactive simulations help students develop analytical and critical thinking skills while improving their proficiency in medical procedures. Additionally, games can foster healthy competition, which further drives learning in virtual simulations. Thus, gaming science offers an innovative approach to complement medical education by making learning more accessible and adaptable to individual needs through immediate feedback. 

Dr. Tung and colleagues at the Department of Orthopaedics at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, differentiate between gamification and serious games. Dr. Tung defines gamification as educational products with gaming features, while serious games are gaming-based products with an educational purpose. In their research, the HTC Vive, a fully immersive virtual reality headset, was utilized, with each participant given two attempts to perform orthopedic surgery. The first attempt included a tutorial, while the second did not. It was observed that users performed more proficiently on their second attempt. Dr. Tung and colleagues also found that non-medical students demonstrated increased acquisition of orthopedic surgical skills, suggesting that exposure to a fast-paced environment can enhance performance for both non-medical and medical students. Furthermore, a positive correlation was observed between gaming experience and performance during knee arthroscopy simulation, a procedure that utilizes a camera to visualize the inside of the knee. 

Dr. Tung elaborates on previous gamification studies performed within orthopedic surgery and notes that gaming can improve learning efficiency compared to traditional methods, largely due to the immediate feedback it can provide. Furthermore, gaming simulations can present different injury patterns that become accessible as users progress through increasingly challenging levels. 

Gaming presents a cost-effective alternative for helping medical studies improve dexterity and visual-spatial skills necessary for minimally invasive surgeries. Gamified learning encourages active participation and provides a cost-effective alternative to enhance dexterity, visual-spatial skills, and education as a whole compared to traditional classroom methods. Despite the growing use of virtual reality simulations to complement medical education, there is still a shortage of gamified tools specific to orthopedic surgery.  

Works Cited:

[1] Tung WS, Baker R, Toy K, Eftekhari M, Casey G, Jahani R, Bono C, Harteveld C, Bejarano-Pineda L, Ashkani-Esfahani S. Gamification and Serious Games in Orthopedic Education: A Systematic Review. Cureus. 2024 Aug 30;16(8):e68234. doi: 10.7759/cureus.68234. PMID: 39347195; PMCID: PMC11439454.
[2] Image retrieved from: https://pixabay.com/photos/surgery-hospital-doctor-care-1822458/