A business game is a method of teaching professional activity through its modeling, close to real conditions, with obligatory branching, dynamic development of the situation or problem being solved in strict accordance with subsequent events with the nature of decisions and actions taken by the players at the previous stages. (Naumov L.B. Educational games in medicine – Tashkent, 1986. – 62 p.)

The goal of medical education is to enable students to acquire knowledge and personal professional skills. Interactive methods of conducting classes, going beyond the framework of the traditional presentation of the material, stimulate interest in its study, the involvement of all students in the process, help to acquire skills in an up-to-date, easy and dynamic way, develop initiative, it is easier to understand and memorize the material, and contribute to the correct choice of specialization by students. Therefore, the introduction and use in the learning process, along with active, interactive forms of teaching disciplines, is an important requirement of modern medical education.

“What I hear – I forget, what I see – I remember what I do – I understand” (Confucius).

One of the forms of the interactive lesson is the “Business game”, which is a joint activity of the participants, during which each of them performs his own task. The knowledge and skills, including practical ones, that its participants acquire during a business game, are especially remembered by students. This special experience, which allows you to create a model of relationships, is important in practical life for the formation of teamwork skills, the resolution of controversial situations, the selection of information, the development of organizational skills, independence, and creativity.

The indisputable advantages of this form of education are:

1. Dynamic accumulation of skills and professional experience.
2. Possibility of practical application and development of the obtained theoretical knowledge.
3. Working out various ways of solving the problem, the ability to choose a strategy of behavior.
4. Accumulation of social and communication experience.
5. The maximum approximation of the game situation to the real process.
6. Educational function of business games.

The business game in medical education is determined by a complex system of educational and communication tasks. Its main objectives are: training and development of skills and abilities to the level of high professional qualifications, reducing the degree of novelty of possible treatment and organizational situations in the professional activities of a doctor.

The task of its participants is to develop solutions and models of further behavior.

The business game gives students the opportunity to:

• immerse themselves in an atmosphere that is extremely close to the work of a doctor;
• learn to form the optimal model of communication with patients and colleagues;
• develop the ability to conduct examinations, diagnostics and choose the optimal treatment tactics using available simple methods.

In order for a business game to be successful, you need to correctly calculate the time required to solve the problem, equip the audience, develop a game scenario based on the curriculum and the topic of the lesson, determine its main questions and goals, and formulate a criteria for evaluating the results.

The teacher in the process of preparing the game and conducting it may face the following difficulties:

 

1. Lack of recommendatory literature and personal basic experience for conducting the lesson in this form.
2. Difficulties in playing the game due to the lack of description in the literature.
3. The emergence of personal conflicts between participants.
4. Possible continuation of intra-group conflict after the end of the game.
5. Deviation of the participants in the game from its regulations and the goals of the educational process.
6. Difficulties in assessing the effectiveness of various types of business games.
7. Difficulties in assessing the results of the game.

It is important that the participants in the business game receive preliminary preparation for it, acquire the appropriate theoretical knowledge and the necessary competence. Students must comply with the rules of the game voiced in advance, while the teacher is required to organize the necessary preparation, control the process of the game, the involvement of all participants in it, compliance with the rules, as well as conducting it to the end and draw conclusions.

At the same time, it is important that the result of the game is appreciated both by the teacher and by the participants themselves. The assessment is carried out on the basis of the analysis of the solutions of the tasks set by students. The teacher, summing up the results, determines the effectiveness of the study of clinical material, the possibility of using the skills and knowledge acquired in the course of the game in the future.

Students’ interest in playful forms of learning requires new methods of presenting material. Therefore, in the training simulators of the “Global electronic database of clinical case scenarios “ClinCaseQuest”” using web technologies, interactive teaching methods are widely used, including the “Business Game”, during which its participant actively performs his task in a virtual environment according to a given function, makes independent decisions, chooses optimal behavior models and ways of solving problems. This allows students to consolidate the acquired knowledge, put into use the skills and abilities necessary for  further professional activities of a doctor.

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