Evaluating a Serious Gaming Electronic Medication Administration Record System Among Nursing Students: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

Richard Booth; Barbara Sinclair; Josephine McMurray; Gillian Strudwick; Gavan Watson; Hanif Ladak; Merrick Zwarenstein; Susan McBride; Ryan Chan; Laura Brennan

doi:10.2196/resprot.9601

Evaluating a Serious Gaming Electronic Medication Administration Record System Among Nursing Students: Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial

JMIR Res Protoc. 2018 May 28;7(5):e138. doi: 10.2196/resprot.9601.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
² Business Technology Management/Health Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, ON, Canada.
³ Information Management Group, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Teaching Support Centre, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁵ Department of Medical Biophysics, Faculty of Engineering, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁶ Centre for Studies in Family Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Western University, London, ON, Canada.
⁷ School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, United States.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Although electronic medication administration record systems have been implemented in settings where nurses work, nursing students commonly lack robust learning opportunities to practice the skills and workflow of digitalized medication administration during their formative education. As a result, nursing students' performance in administering medication facilitated by technology is often poor. Serious gaming has been recommended as a possible intervention to improve nursing students' performance with electronic medication administration in nursing education.

Objective: The objectives of this study are to examine whether the use of a gamified electronic medication administration simulator (1) improves nursing students' attention to medication administration safety within simulated practice, (2) increases student self-efficacy and knowledge of the medication administration process, and (3) improves motivational and cognitive processing attributes related to student learning in a technology-enabled environment.

Methods: This study comprised the development of a gamified electronic medication administration record simulator and its evaluation in 2 phases. Phase 1 consists of a prospective, pragmatic randomized controlled trial with second-year baccalaureate nursing students at a Canadian university. Phase 2 consists of qualitative focus group interviews with a cross-section of nursing student participants.

Results: The gamified medication administration simulator has been developed, and data collection is currently under way.

Conclusions: If the gamified electronic medication administration simulator is found to be effective, it could be used to support other health professional simulated education and scaled more widely in nursing education programs.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03219151; https://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT03219151 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6yjBROoDt).

Registered report identifier: RR1-10.2196/9601.

Keywords: high fidelity simulation training; medication errors; nursing education; video games.

©Richard Booth, Barbara Sinclair, Josephine McMurray, Gillian Strudwick, Gavan Watson, Hanif Ladak, Merrick Zwarenstein, Susan McBride, Ryan Chan, Laura Brennan. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 28.05.2018.

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT03219151