What if continuing education became a game?
23 November 2020
Dujardin A1, Laubacher H1, Hercheux P1, Chourbagi C1, Votte P1. 1. 1. Centralized cytotoxic reconstitution unit, CHU Amiens, FranceIntroduction
The French manual “Good preparation practices” states that the staff working in a centralized cytotoxic reconstitution unit must be qualified through specific initial and continuing education. This must be theoretical (chemical risk, risk for the patient, pharmacology of anticancer drugs, etc.) and practical (mastery of handling gestures, control of preparations, management of incidents, etc.). As part of the continuing education, the "active" method which implicates the staff is the best to captivate their attention and enhance learning. To this end, a new pedagogical tool presented as a board game inspired by the "trivial pursuit" was developed.
Material and method
In this game, 6 topics are covered: generalities about cancer, anticancer drug side effects, therapeutic protocols/classes of anticancer drugs, dose/posology of anticancer drugs, controlled atmosphere zone and specific preparations. All authorized personnel (n=15: 14 hospital pharmacy technician and 1 nurse) participated in the game spread over 3 sessions of 5 players. Each session lasted one hour. The game was led by an intern and a pharmacist. The winner was the first player to get a correct answer for each of the 6 themes.
Results
Among the 15 hospital pharmacy technicians, 67% have less than 5 years seniority and 53% are assigned full-time to the sector. They all received initial practical and theoretical training upon their arrival in the sector.
The percentages of success were 82% for “dose/posology of anticancer drugs”, 75% for “controlled atmosphere zone”, 73% for “specific preparations”, 69% for “protocols/therapeutic classes of anticancer drugs”, 52% for “side effects” and 47% for “general information on cancer”.
The satisfaction questionnaire shows that 100% of the players were very satisfied or satisfied with the game; 67% found it too short; 100% were very satisfied or satisfied with the difficulty level and 100% were very satisfied with the number of players. Two players felt that there were too many true/false questions.
Discussion / conclusion
This pedagogical tool enables to evaluate the theoretical knowledge of authorized manipulators while being educational. According to the satisfactory results obtained for 4 out of the 6 covered topics, an additional training dealing with cancer generalities and anticancer drug side effects has been planned. This educational tool will be used at least once a year with updated topics and questions. Practical examples will be integrated for the next sessions in order to develop a comprehensive continuing education program.