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From 27-29 March 2023, Transmissible participated in a seminar at the Paris Saclay University under the European University Alliance for Global Health (EUGLOH) network to present the experience in reaching out to healthcare workers with Learning Games and Public Health Storytelling. We joined the seminar organizers in writing an article about "New pedagogical Tools for Vaccine Education", published this week in BMC Medical Education. Below is an excerpt.
HC professionals take an important position among influencers in the vaccine decision making pathway. They are considered trustworthy information sources by parents and can, therefore, be strong influencers. Some feel ill-equipped to engage in conversation around hesitancy. If they are hesitant themselves, this impacts their patients. The evidence regarding risks and benefits of vaccination is often embedded in technical, complex language.
HC professionals and health policymakers may find it hard to detect the stories behind the evidence that are easier to grasp and worth sharing with parents. Providing professionals with storytelling techniques expands their communication toolset. An example of this can be found in “Perspectives on Vaccination”, a thematic overview of evidence and key points from peer-reviewed publications on vaccination, intertwined with a comic book narrative of a group of gardeners aiming to keep their gardens healthy. For each of the 26 main themes around vaccination, the illustrated story provides the reader with a 1-page analogy of the relevant technical concepts that may help communicate such evidence to non-specialized target groups.
It is essential for HC students to understand the complex landscape surrounding vaccination, which involves a broad array of professional stakeholders, including ministries, national institutes, medical associations, HC managers, regulators, manufacturers, media, and patient organizations. To ensure the successful implementation of vaccination programmes, it is critical for these entities to collaborate effectively. HC students should also be aware of the importance of being intimately familiar with the various positions and dilemmas related to vaccination policy among these stakeholders. They should be trained to listen and understand why people resist vaccination, not just how to encourage them to vaccinate. This type of learning is expected to develop advanced communication skills and interpersonal empathy, which enhance HC students' ability to connect with people across a range of vaccine practices and viewpoints.
The Vaccination Policy Dilemma Game “Play your Part” brings stakeholders together to simulate policy choices in vaccination. The game mechanics simulate how different policy proposals might influence the Key Performance Indicators of the WHO Global Vaccine Action Plan 2011–2020.
Students aim to become the health professionals of the future. Challenging their creative thinking about dealing with the complexity of hesitancy and the stakeholders in that field may be achieved by learning games in the curriculum as seen on other health issues, such as the Collaborative Epidemic Response Game FluFightersTM that is embedded in the curriculum of medical students at several Dutch, British and Austrian universities since 2018.