Integration of a serious game about haematology (SUPER HEMO®) in a pharmacy curriculum: A 2-year follow-up

Background: Serious Games (SG) are prevalent game-based learning approaches in healthcare education. SUPER HEMO® (SH) is a digital SG designed for healthcare students to improve their knowledge and skills in haematology. This report describes the 2-year use of SH by pharmacy students at the University of Lorraine, France. SH is completely integrated into the haematology courses through 2 different approaches: full-open access on a website, allowing students to play at will, and two mandatory game-based tutorials, providing further feedback on critical topics. Methods: The purpose was 1/ to evaluate knowledge acquisition following game-based tutorials by comparing pre/post-test evaluations; 2/ to collect information regarding the game’s use by assessing website connections and “daily active users” and 3/ students’ game experience by online, anonymous, voluntary survey. Results: Pre/post-test evaluations performed during the tutorials firmly showed that SH enables immediate knowledge acquisition. Additionally, 98% of students greatly appreciated these tutorials, especially because of the additional feedback provided. Regarding open access, website analysis revealed recurrent activity (8 daily active users on average). Finally, students appreciated this novel pedagogical tool. Conclusion: Overall, the real-life use of SH confirms that both open-access and game-based tutorials perfectly fit pharmacy students’ needs and expectations for haematology learning.