Playful simulations rather than serious games: medical simulation as a cultural practice
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Pelletier, C
Kneebone, R
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Medical simulation has historically been studied in terms of the delivery of learning outcomes or the social construction of knowledge. Consequently, simulation-based medical education has been researched primarily in terms of the transfer of skills or the reproduction of professional communities of practice. We make a case for studying simulation-based medical education as a cultural practice, situating it within a history of gaming and simulation, and which, by virtue of distinctive aesthetics, does not simply teach skills or reproduce professional practices but rather transforms how medicine can be made sense of. Three concepts from the field of game studies—play, narrative, and simulation—are deployed to interpret an ethnographic study of hospital-based simulation centers and describe underreported phenomena, including the cooperative work involved in maintaining a fictional world, the narrative conventions by which medical intervention are portrayed, and the political consequences of simulating the division of labor.
Date Issued
2015-01-27
Date Acceptance
2015-01-27
Citation
Games and Culture, 2015, 11 (4), pp.365-389
ISSN
1555-4139
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Start Page
365
End Page
389
Journal / Book Title
Games and Culture
Volume
11
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Games and Culture, June 2016, vol. 11, no. 4, 365-389, by Sage Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2015. It is available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1555412014568449
Sponsor
London Deanery
Grant Number
LSHA ref: XXEMEJIA
Subjects
Communication & Media Studies
1902 Film, Television And Digital Media
2001 Communication And Media Studies
Publication Status
Published