Objective:

To evaluate the impact of a gamified, interactive stroke talk on medical students’ knowledge and confidence in stroke care and assess its potential as a scalable educational model.

Background:

Medical students often receive limited and delayed exposure to stroke, despite its critical importance in clinical practice. Traditional didactic methods can fail to engage learners or build confidence. Early, interactive, and gamified teaching interventions may enhance stroke knowledge, confidence, and interest while combating neurophobia.

Design/Methods:

Medical students across four years (N=20 pre, 19 post) participated in a one-hour, resident-led interactive session on stroke recognition and acute management, conducted in collaboration with Neurology Student Interest Groups. The session integrated case vignettes, real-time polling, and quiz-based gamification. Three faculty-verified multiple-choice questions tested complementary domains: cortical stroke localization, thrombolysis (TNK) window, and CT perfusion interpretation. Pre- and post-session surveys assessed knowledge and confidence using a 5-point Likert scale, with open-ended qualitative feedback analyzed thematically.

Results:

Knowledge improved across all domains: cortical stroke signs (30%→47.4%), thrombolysis window (60%→89.5%), and CT perfusion interpretation (55%→73.7%), with overall accuracy rising from 48% to 70% (22% absolute gain). Confidence increased significantly for stroke recognition (2.1→3.79/5) and management (1.35→3.74/5; both p<0.01). Students rated the session highly (mean 4.74/5). Thematic analysis highlighted the session’s interactivity, gamification, and clarity as distinguishing strengths.

Conclusions:

A gamified, faculty-verified stroke talk significantly enhanced medical student knowledge and confidence with strong engagement and scalability. Leveraging existing student group infrastructure can facilitate broader implementation. Future directions include developing a longitudinal, tiered curriculum integrating neurophobia assessment and promoting early interest in neurology careers.