Intervention fidelity and competency translation of serious games in pharmacy education: a scoping umbrella review

Digital game-based interventions are increasingly used in pharmacy education, but evidence for clinical behavior and patient-oriented outcomes remains uncertain. We conducted a scoping umbrella review. Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus were searched through December 31, 2025, for publications from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2025. Of 914 unique records screened, eight reviews were included from database searching and two through backward citation tracking. AMSTAR 2 served as a secondary transparency benchmark; review-level evidence was mapped using Miller’s pyramid, Kirkpatrick’s model and the Graafland framework and synthesized narratively. Engagement and short-term knowledge were the outcomes most frequently reported; evidence for workplace behavior and patient outcomes remained limited. Seven of ten reviews pooled digital and physical interventions without modality-specific outcomes, limiting attribution. Log-data-driven assessment was rarely reported. The review-level evidence centered on engagement and short-term knowledge; modality-specific reporting and validity evidence remain insufficient for claims about clinical competency translation.