Kyung Hee University Nursing College Enhances New Nurse Skills with Board Games

Kyung Hee University's College of Nursing Science recently hosted a "Healing Camp" at Kangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital, designed to strengthen new nurses' professional skills and help them adapt to their new organizational environment. The program focused on alleviating the stress often experienced during the initial stages of clinical practice.

A key component of the camp involved a unique educational approach: a board game developed by Professor Yoon Eun-kyung's research team. Titled "The Golden Hour: Pandemic," this game allowed participants to experience the role of a ward nursing manager. Through simulated scenarios, they navigated critical decisions related to hospital system operations, staffing, infection control, and financial management.

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Sharing experiences with colleagues brought deep empathy and comfort. Through the game, I could simulate ward operations and understand hospital systems and patient safety three-dimensionally from a nursing manager's perspective.

Participants engaged in group mind-mapping activities to share their challenges and offer mutual encouragement. Professor Yoon also led a session titled "My Nursing, My Future: Growing as a System Thinker," emphasizing the importance of collaborative decision-making through a systems-thinking perspective. The board game experience provided a hands-on understanding of the complexities of hospital systems and patient safety from a management viewpoint.

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Moving forward, we plan to continue providing various refresh opportunities and support programs to help new nurses adapt stably to the hospital environment and boost their morale, thereby building a safe and trustworthy nursing practice environment.

One participating nurse shared, "Sharing experiences with colleagues brought deep empathy and comfort. Through the game, I could simulate ward operations and understand hospital systems and patient safety three-dimensionally from a nursing manager's perspective." This experience reinforced the critical role of collaboration and decision-making in clinical settings.

Shin Soon-hwa, Vice President of Nursing at Kangdong Kyung Hee University Hospital, stated the hospital plans to continue offering various support programs and opportunities for new nurses to ensure their stable adaptation and boost morale. Professor Yoon highlighted the program's success as a meaningful case study for applying system-thinking-based game education in clinical settings, demonstrating the practical applicability of their research.

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This is a case study where the system thinking-based game education program developed by our research team was applied to actual clinical education. It is a meaningful case that shows the spread of research results to the education field and the practical applicability of participatory educational content.