Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic, Mental Health Service Line, Minneapolis VA Medical Center, University of Minnesota Medical School, One Veterans Drive, Minneapolis, MN 55417, USA.
Med Teach. 2011;33(2):156-60. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2010.509414. Epub 2010 Sep 27.
Most psychiatric programs provide lectures on basic principles of psychopharmacology. Yet, this traditional approach has been criticized due to excessive information and passive transfer of expert knowledge. An alternative teaching method is the use of "academic games."
To investigate medical students' acquisition of knowledge on psychopharmacology, and their perception of a game playing approach compared to traditional lectures.
Two senior residents designed, implemented, and executed a randomized pretest-posttest study to teach psychopharmacology, using an academic game and a lecture format, to third-year medical students during a 6-week Psychiatry clerkship. Both didactic interventions were delivered concurrently for five consecutive weeks covering five psychopharmacology modules: antidepressants I (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and atypical antidepressants), antidepressants II (monoamine oxidase inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants), mood stabilizers, antipsychotics, and anti-anxiety agents/sedatives/hypnotics. The game follows similar rules of the famous TV show, "Jeopardy" using a power point grid and a multiple choice question format.
Forty-three medical students participated (29 assigned to the game approach, 14 to the traditional lecture approach). None of the demographic variables (age, gender, years after graduation, Graduate Point Averages, and United States Medical Licensing Examination 1) were significantly associated with the pre/posttest score difference between groups. Both groups improved their knowledge on psychotropic drugs [(game group t = 10.86, p < 0.001); control t = 4.82, p < 0.001)] throughout the 6-week Psychiatry rotation. Students in the game group had a better perception of this educational method as measured by perceived enjoyment, increased knowledge of psychopharmacology, and stimulating interest in the subject compared to those in the lecture group (p < 0.05).
Teaching psychopharmacology in medical students by using academic games can make the learning experience more enjoyable and motivating; however, future studies with higher quality methodology and design are needed to determine the role of educational games in acquiring new psychopharmacological knowledge.
大多数精神病学项目都提供关于精神药理学基本原理的讲座。然而，由于信息过多和专家知识的被动传递，这种传统方法受到了批评。另一种教学方法是使用“学术游戏”。
调查医学生对精神药理学知识的掌握情况，以及他们对游戏学习方法的看法与传统讲座相比。
两位资深住院医师设计、实施并执行了一项随机预测试后测试研究，在为期 6 周的精神病学实习期间，用学术游戏和讲座的形式向三年级医学生教授精神药理学，这两种教学方法同时进行，共进行五周，涵盖五个精神药理学模块：抗抑郁药 I（选择性 5-羟色胺再摄取抑制剂和非典型抗抑郁药）、抗抑郁药 II（单胺氧化酶抑制剂和三环抗抑郁药）、心境稳定剂、抗精神病药以及抗焦虑药/镇静剂/催眠药。游戏采用了类似著名电视节目“危险边缘”的规则，使用幻灯片网格和多项选择题格式。
共有 43 名医学生参与（29 名被分配到游戏组，14 名被分配到传统讲座组）。在年龄、性别、毕业后年限、研究生入学考试成绩 1 分和美国医师执照考试 1 分等人口统计学变量方面，没有一个与组间预测试后得分差异显著相关。两组学生在整个 6 周的精神病学轮转过程中都提高了他们对精神药物的知识[(游戏组 t = 10.86，p < 0.001)；对照组 t = 4.82，p < 0.001)]。与讲座组相比，游戏组的学生对这种教育方法的感知更好，包括感知的乐趣、精神药理学知识的增加以及对该主题的兴趣激发(p < 0.05)。
在医学生中使用学术游戏教授精神药理学可以使学习体验更加愉快和有动力；然而，需要进行更多高质量方法和设计的未来研究，以确定教育游戏在获取新的精神药理学知识方面的作用。
