Enhancing Surgical Team Performance with Game-Based Training

Medical errors in surgical environments are frequently linked to breakdowns in team communication and hierarchical power imbalances. To address these challenges, researchers evaluated the efficacy of the Safe Surgery Trainer (SST), a serious game developed for the United States Navy to reinforce patient safety protocols and improve interdisciplinary team coordination. The study aimed to determine whether game-based training could effectively enhance declarative knowledge and the transfer of communication skills to novel clinical scenarios.

The study utilized a randomized controlled design involving 141 non-medical participants recruited from a simulation conference. Participants were divided into two groups: an intervention group that played the SST game before completing a knowledge and transfer assessment, and a control group that completed the assessment before having the option to play the game. The assessment consisted of six declarative knowledge questions and seven behavioral vignettes designed to measure the application of communication skills in operating room contexts.

Results indicated that the intervention group significantly outperformed the control group in both declarative knowledge and skill transfer. Participants who engaged with the game demonstrated a superior ability to apply communication strategies to novel situations, suggesting that the immersive, feedback-rich environment of the game successfully facilitated the development of accurate mental models for team interaction.

While the findings support the potential of serious games as effective training interventions, the study notes limitations regarding the sample population and the lack of a traditional training comparison group. Future research is recommended to validate these results within actual surgical teams and to compare game-based approaches against conventional lecture-based or live-exercise training methods. Overall, the evidence suggests that well-engineered serious games can serve as a viable tool for improving team performance and patient safety.