“Aquilibria: The battle to balance”—a narrative card and board game on acid-base regulation for first-year medical students

Abstract

Recognizing the growing value of Game-Based Learning in medical education, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the innovation, "Aquilibria - The Battle to Balance", a creative narrative card and board game in improving learners' understanding and application of the concepts of acid-base balance. In this mixed-method study, 120 first-year medical students participated. The innovation employed a card and board style integrated with a captivating story. Students were divided into small groups of 6 each with a facilitator. Following this, the post-test was conducted to compare the educational gain. Also, students' perceptions about the game were obtained using a 32-item questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale. In addition to this, confidence among students to understand and interpret the concepts of acid-base regulation before and after the game was obtained using a 10-item questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale. Furthermore, for qualitative data, short interviews with open-ended questions were conducted and thematic analysis was performed. The results showed a highly significant improvement in academic performance from a pre-test score of 7.57 ± 1.07 (Mean ± Standard Deviation) to 16.14 ± 1.80 in the post-test with a p-value less than 0.0001. There was a notable increase in confidence among learners after the game and highly positive student feedback was received. These findings support the growing recognition of narrative game-based learning as a valuable and engaging strategy in medical education, offering a promising avenue for fostering deeper understanding and retention of complex medical concepts.