Effectiveness of Using a Popular Media Theme in Emergency Medicine Simulation

Introduction Gamification is a commonly used tool in the educator’s kit to enhance engagement. Using the popular media franchise “Star Wars” as a theming and framing device to simulations may also enhance engagement, but there is potential for this same theming to promote disinterest and poor connection to the educational material if the learner is apathetic towards “Star Wars”. Methods Eleven residents in a community hospital residency program attended a “Star Wars” themed simulation event. A knowledge-based pre- and post-test was given along with a subjective self-analysis of the resident’s perspective on the theming and gamification of the simulation. Cohorts were divided into residents who were “Pro Star Wars” and those who were “Neutral to Star Wars” for comparison on both knowledge and self-analysis. Results On the subjective responses, the “Pro Star Wars” group felt that the theming made the event more engaging, enjoyable, and the learning easier than the “Neutral to Star Wars” group. Regarding gamification, a similar divide occurred with the “Pro Star Wars” group feeling more engaged, enjoying, and learning more easily through gamification. The “Pro Star Wars” group had a mean improvement on the knowledge test of 9%, and the “Neutral to Star Wars” group had a mean improvement of 7.5%, neither being statistically significant. Conclusion Implementation of a themed simulation, with that theme being used to frame simulations, did not have a statistically significant effect on knowledge acquisition. However, there is evidence of a subjective effect on enjoyment and engagement with learning if the learner does not resonate with the chosen theme. With mounting evidence on the positive utility of gamification and interactive learning, popular media theming is bound to be integrated into educational events. Careful design of these events needs to be done to ensure learners are not isolated and left behind.