Human morphology is a critical component of dental and medical graduate training. Innovations in basic science teaching methods are needed to keep up with an ever-changing landscape of technology. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether students in a medical and dental histology course would have better grades if they used gaming software Kahoot® and whether gamification effects on learning and enjoyment. In an effort to both evoke students’ interest and expand their skill retention, an online competition using Kahoot® was implemented for first-year students in 2018 (n = 215) at the University of Eastern Finland. Additionally, closed (160/215) or open-ended (41/215) feedback questions were collected and analyzed. The Kahoot® gamification program was successful and resulted in learning gains. The overall participant satisfaction using Kahoot® was high, with students (124/160) indicating that gamification increased their motivation to learn. The gaming approach seemed to enable the students to overcome individual difficulties (139/160) and to set up collaboration (107/160); furthermore, gamification promoted interest (109/160), and the respondents found the immediate feedback from senior professionals to be positive (146/160). In the open-ended survey, the students (23/41) viewed collaborative team- and gamification-based learning positively. This study lends support to the use of gamification in the teaching of histology and may provide a foundation for designing a gamification-integrated curriculum across healthcare disciplines.

This article is a review of the literature focused on simulation as an educational intervention in healthcare. The authors examined the literature based on four key levels: (1) the validity and reliability of the simulator, (2) the validity and reliability of the performance evaluation tool, (3) the study design, and (4) the translational impact. The authors found that the majority of research literature in healthcare simulation does not address the validity and reliability of the simulator or the performance evaluation tool. However, there are well-designed research studies that address the translation into clinical settings and have positive patient safety outcomes.