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January 29, 2025 By: Dr. Meaghan Adams, Manager, Simulation & Virtual Learning, Centre for Education & Knowledge Exchange in Aging, Baycrest Academy for Research & Education and Melissa Tafler, Knowledge Broker: Special Projects, Centre for Education & Knowledge Exchange in Aging, Baycrest Academy for Research & Education

In Canada, 750,000 people are living with dementia—a number projected to more than double by 2050. The rapidly growing number of aging Canadians is being met with a shortage of healthcare workers in many professions including doctors, nurses, occupational therapists, nurses and personal support workers.

In order to meet the increasingly complex needs of this population, our healthcare system needs more and better trained professionals on the frontlines. Serious educational games which feature realistic scenarios that challenge learners to think critically, make decisions under pressure and develop essential skills in a risk-free environment can play a significant role in addressing challenges in Canada’s under-resourced healthcare system by improving training efficiency, providing learning options for those in rural areas and enhancing retention and motivation among healthcare professionals.

Game-based learning – does it work?
Our next generation of health care providers are digital natives and gamers. The research is clear: tapping into game-based learning offers deeper and more immersive learning experiences, dramatically increases retention rates and can unlock fun and creative ways to transform curriculum. These are statistics that we should not ignore when it comes to best practices in teaching and education.

Through practice with feedback, simulation helps our brains develop more accurate mental models of the world leading to improved learning, clinical and organizational outcomes. Problem-based learning fosters adaptive, creative skill sets and draws on our multiple intelligences (not just memorization) to solve meaningful, relevant and contextualized real-world problems.

Team-based learning also improves communication, collaboration, shared values and role clarity which in turn strengthen clinical outcomes, and story-based learning connects content to our emotions and helps our brains structure and remember knowledge.

Serious game mechanics activate the reward centres in our brains (by activating the ventral striatum) and improve our ability to focus by deactivating the default mode network.

There is also a body of evidence that learning through serious educational games is equivalent or surpasses other learning methods. Unlike more traditional methods, game-based learning allows for repeated practice in a way that increases student motivation and engagement, making it an important tool in preparing future healthcare professionals for real-world clinical challenges.

Providing cutting-edge training with serious games
Baycrest, one of the world’s leading distributors of knowledge on seniors’ care, is educating the next generation of healthcare providers, locally and globally, by developing innovative, interprofessional virtual education to address this challenge.

As a host organization of the Ontario Centres for Learning, Research and Innovation in Long-Term Care (CLRI), Baycrest offers innovative educational initiatives and resources for the Ontario long-term care sector to engage healthcare providers, staff and learners in cultures of learning and to integrate evidence-informed approaches.

One such initiative is the Learning Inter-Professionally Healthcare Accelerator (LIPHA) – an evidence-based, serious simulation game-based platform for learning and training in healthcare. LIPHA addresses the need for quality training in long-term care, presenting learners with real-world scenarios, simulated patient cases, quests and evidence-based resources to practice clinical and team-based competencies for delivering care to older adults in clinical settings. It is highly scalable and offers multiple possibilities for game-based learning, drawing on neuroscience, emotional design and story-based learning.

In addition to knowledge application improvements, learners report increased confidence and interest in gerontology and geriatric care. To date, over 6,000 learners have benefited from LIPHA, which is free for academic programs and long-term care homes across the province.

Using the LIPHA platform, our team built the Possibilities by BaycrestTM learning experience. Possibilities by BaycrestTM is a memory care model that creates highly customized experiences for individuals living with dementia in residential memory care settings. The learning experience will enable teams to deliver the best possible care to older adults living in PossibilitiesTM communities around the world.

LIPHA supported the creation of two new staffing roles for Possibilities by BaycrestTM – the curator and the maven – emphasizing personal choice and flexible staff roles and responsibilities so that each resident could receive uniquely care tailored to their individual needs, interests, abilities and potential through the application of neuroscience-based insights. Their extensive training empowers curators and mavens to make thoughtful and intentional decisions supportive of the residents, rather than in compliance with existing processes.

Developed with experts in geriatrics, clinical practice, medical education, simulation, neuroscience, learning theory and game-based learning, the learning experience combines synchronous and asynchronous education, innovative game-based learning and expert facilitation to enable staff to support residents on their best possible aging journey. Evaluation data shows that the educational experience creates an exceptional community to live and work, enabling staff to adopt a relational approach to dementia care, changing knowledge and attitudes about dementia and technology.

Through our commitment to developing and providing interprofessional, virtual and team-based education, Baycrest is equipping healthcare providers with the skills and knowledge needed to provide exemplary care to older adults everywhere.
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