Use of serious games to promote infection prevention among senior nursing students during COVID-19

Editor's Note

This study by nursing researchers from Turkey, finds that serious game implementation significantly increased senior nursing students’ knowledge of infection prevention and safe behaviors during COVID-19.

A total of 62 nursing students completed a socio-demographic questionnaire, COVID-19 information form, and game usability form, and their responses were analyzed pre- and post-test.

The researchers found that serious games can:

• encourage deep reflection and active learning
• be used as a teaching strategy to create a motivational learning environment
• reinforce nursing students’ learning by adapting theoretical content into a case study
• contribute to the development of students’ cognitive and psychomotor skills.

The students considered the practice of serious games as:

• an effective teaching strategy
• reflecting the real hospital environment, including nursing care process and roles
• being informative
• being compatible by phone
• an effective test of new knowledge at each stage of the game.

The researchers concluded that using serious games for nursing skills development is an appropriate teaching method for infection prevention and promotion of safe behaviors.