Using Gamified Continuing Education to Address Knowledge and Confidence Gaps Regarding Advances in the Management of Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease
Katie Robinson1, Jennifer Frederick1, Wilma Guerra1, Emily Scully1, Lynn Hayne1, Robert Esgro1
1Vindico Medical Education
Objective:
To use gamified continuing medical education (CME) to identify and address knowledge and confidence gaps related to the optimization of new therapies that target Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology. 
Background:

Recent years have brought the first approvals for therapies that treat the pathology underlying AD, yet neurologists remain challenged to optimize the use of new agents. Gamified CME has been shown to increase engagement and knowledge transfer, and confidence-based learning can improve the educational experience by identifying and addressing areas in which learners lack comfort.

Design/Methods:

Vindico developed a gamified CME activity based on the principles of confidence-based learning designed to educate neurologists on AD pathophysiology, patient assessment, and advances in treatment. Pre- and post-tests were used to quantify the impact of education. 

Results:

Complete datasets were available for 177 neurologists who report seeing patients with AD.  Baseline knowledge was lowest on questions related to current and emerging treatment options (only 38% correct) and highest regarding patient assessment (63% correct). However, while confidence scores trended with knowledge scores, baseline confidence was low even among learners who answered correctly (3.1 out of 5.0 on average), suggesting a lack of comfortability with all topics. This lack of confidence translated to practice gaps, with only 18% of neurologists reporting always applying the latest evidence to clinical decision making. Post-education, there was a 37% increase in knowledge across topics, highlighting the educational impact. Additionally, providers were 17% more likely to apply this knowledge to practice, reflecting the activity’s positive effect on neurologists’ confidence levels. 

Conclusions:

Integration of gamified, confidence-based learning into CME is impactful to identify and address educational needs. In this study confidence scores were only average even among those who answered knowledge-based questions correctly, demonstrating the need for skills-based learning that may improve comfort in integrating new options for patient management into practice.

10.1212/WNL.0000000000204776