Fostering students' engagement through the gamification of an highly intense paper-based decision making simulated session.

Serious games are a type of technology-enhanced simulation that may provide nursing students, among others, with an opportunity to practice clinical reasoning and decision-making skills in a more realistic and safe environment (1). This innovative educational approach is increasingly gaining visibility and applicability as it constitutes a valid response to the threats posed by the ongoing COVID19 pandemic (2). AIMS This project aims at responding to the ever-changing educational needs of nursing students during the pandemic through the gamification of a highly intense paper-based decision-making simulated activity. METHOD The game, designed for both on and off campus use, exposes students to a sequence of four time-based scenarios. Each scenario focuses on a different clinical/behavioural issue. Students work in small groups discussing and prioritising interventions in light of the overall ongoing situation in the ward. Four different scenarios were filmed and embedded in an H5P (3) platform along with specific information on how to navigate the system and to provide the clinical facilitator with the decisions made by the students. The clinical facilitator may interact with each group of students through MS Teams in specific breakout rooms and can provide written as well as audio-video feedback. CONCLUSIONS The game is at a concept stage and has been tested among nursing faculty members at the University of Suffolk. The preliminary test showed how versatile the new tool is in allowing on/off campus use. It also provides a higher degree of realism with improved opportunities for interaction between students and clinical facilitator-including video-recording based briefing and debriefing. It is less time and human resource intense than the paper-based option. A more extensive test will be conducted in the near future involving a representative sample of nursing students with the aim of acquiring constructive feedback and release of a final usable version of the game.