Candy Gland: A Diabetes Board Game for Medical Students

INTRODUCTION: Diabetes mellitus can be a challenging topic for medical students. Educational games can engage students, encourage collaboration and peer teaching, and support friendly competition. To enhance student training on diabetes diagnosis and management, we developed a flashcard-style board game to review these concepts and provide a formative assessment. METHODS: In this 50-minute session, 102 second-year medical students used a game board and playing cards to compete in small groups. To play, teams took turns answering flashcard-style playing cards and moved forward on the board with correct answers. The first team to reach the end of the board won. Students completed a survey about their confidence in the topic and a multiple-choice test before and after the session to measure the effectiveness of this intervention. RESULTS: Medical knowledge scores improved from 7.3 before the intervention to 8.0 after (10-point scale, p < .001). Students’ ratings of their confidence in diabetes pharmacology, diagnosis, and management all improved (ps < .05 for all), with the greatest improvement seen in pharmacology. Student satisfaction ratings and narrative feedback were very positive. DISCUSSION: This educational game effectively improved student knowledge and confidence in diabetes diagnosis, pharmacology, and management in an engaging, unique session. The intervention would be easy for other institutions to implement.