Students' perceptions of playing a serious game intended to enhance therapeutic decision-making in a pharmacy curriculum

Background and purpose: Therapeutic decision-making is a critical part of the skill set required by practicing pharmacists. A potentially straightforward way to teach and evaluate decision-making skills is use of real-time simulations. This study aimed to evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions of using a real-time simulation game to treat their own virtual patient. Educational activity and setting: Second professional year (Y2) and fourth professional year (Y4) pharmacy students were provided an opportunity to use a virtual patient simulation in their courses. Student perceptions of the game and use of the game for decision-making were evaluated by a questionnaire. The qualitative findings were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis. Findings: The questionnaire was completed by 120 Y2 and 115 Y4 students. Four themes arose from the analysis that reflected the students' perceptions of autonomy in their learning and practice, the difficulty in committing to a decision, and having fun while learning. Summary: This work provides an initial exploration of the perceptions of pharmacy students about playing a real-time, autonomous, simulation-based game for treating a patient. Future research should focus on more detailed evaluation of this game for learning therapeutic decision making.