Game helps train future doctors and nurses

A new game called Kaizen is making rounds in the hospital halls and—gasp—making medical school fun.

The online quiz game was developed by a group of infectious diseases doctors in the UAB School of Medicine. It’s a mix of education, entertainment and competition proved to be a hit when it debuted in UAB’s internal medicine residency program in 2013.

The following year, thanks to a grant from the UAB Health System Foundation, the Kaizen team revised its software and purchased dedicated equipment in order to facilitate multiple games. Kaizen quickly spread to several other residency programs at the School of Medicine and the nurse practitioner program at the UAB School of Nursing. This past fall, undergraduates in the nursing school and first-year medical students joined in.

Named for a Japanese phrase meaning “continuous improvement,” Kaizen presents players with short, multiple-choice scenarios designed to test their clinical knowledge. The questions are meant to be answered quickly — in an elevator ride between floors during hospital rounds, for instance. Over the course of a Kaizen “season” (generally one semester), players compete as individuals and in teams, answering weekly batches of questions that follow their curriculum. An online leaderboard allows players to see where they stand in relation to classmates and other teams.

“It’s all about using competition — with themselves or others — to help students learn,” said James Willig, M.D., an associate professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases and a co-developer of the game. Kaizen gives students an opportunity to test their “developing clinical knowledge without the embarrassment of public failure,” agreed medical student Russell Marsh. “By making mistakes under the guise of a game, I am able to reinforce clinical techniques before I apply them to a real patient.”

“Everyone is pushed for time; students realize that Kaizen is a great way to learn on the fly,” added Jared White, M.D., assistant professor in the Department of Surgery and a leader in the department’s general surgery residency program, which also introduced Kaizen in fall 2014. “We’re eager to see how this affects board scores and pass rates on in-service exams,” he said. “It takes just a few minutes to answer some questions on your phone while you’re waiting on an elevator, or sitting at home with a tablet.”

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Category: Features, Technology & Devices