Research
Game-Changers: Using Simulation Gaming to Strengthen Charge Nurse Leadership Development
A study at Cedars Sinai finds Friday Night at the ER to be a highly effective strategy to strengthen charge nurse leadership development. Researchers report the game is “engaging, practical and more relevant than traditional instruction,” and see significant improvements in participants’ competence, confidence and systems thinking.
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Investigation of the psychometric properties of the German System Thinking Scale in an interprofessional learning setting using the game “Friday Night at the Emergency Room®”: a cross-sectional study
BMC Medical Education • July 2025
Researchers at the University of Luebeck used the game with students from six different health care programs and found it to have a positive impact on their systems thinking.They used the German version of the Systems Thinking Scale to measure and analyze pre- and post-data, and found it to be a reliable instrument in evaluating system thinking of medical and health care students.
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Using Gaming to Prepare Health Professional Students to Practice Systems Thinking
Learning Health Systems • June 2024
Researchers at Auburn University used Friday Night at the ER with 1,033 healthcare professional students across six separate semester cohorts, and found the game to be a ‘meaningful interprofessional activity that prepares students to practice systems thinking in their future careers.’ Investigators used the Systems Thinking Scale, and found that combined nursing, pharmacy, nutrition and speech-language pathology students’ total scores increased significantly from pre-test to post-test.
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Interprofessional Simulation Learning Game Increases Socialization and Teamwork Among Students of Health Professions Programs
Nurse Educator • Jan 2024
A study by University at Buffalo educators finds Friday Night at the ER to be a highly valued, effective and important experience for health professions students’ socialization and readiness to function in interprofessional teams.
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Educational Game Improves Systems Thinking, Socialization, and Teamwork Among Students of 13 Health Professions Programs
Journal of Interprofessional Care • Aug 2023
Researchers at University at Buffalo evaluated the benefits of using Friday Night at the ER with students in 13 health professions programs. The results show significant improvements in students’ systems thinking, interprofessional socialization, and interprofessional collaborative practice competencies. The data also revealed students highly valued the experience and would recommend it to their peers.
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A Serious Game Employed to Introduce Principles of Interprofessional Collaboration to Students of Multiple Health Professions
Simulation & Gaming • April 2022
Educators from the University at Buffalo use of Friday Night at the ER to explore how serious games can be used to teach interprofessional teamwork and communication to early learners in a variety of health professions. Nearly 90 percent of students found it to be highly effective.
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Implementing a New Capstone Leadership Clinical Course
Nurse Educator • March 2021
Faculty at an undergraduate nursing program in the Midwest integrated Friday Night at the ER and other simulation experiences into a new capstone leadership clinical course in an effort to build student capacity for leadership and ease student transition into professional practice. The game is one of five types of eclectic experiences that comprise the new course.
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Applied systems thinking: The impact of system optimization strategies on financial and quality performance in a team-based simulation
Healthcare Management Forum • Jan 2021
Researcher Phil Cady led two rounds of game play with senior executives from 16 countries to find that those who applied core systems thinking strategies in round two demonstrated substantial improvements in financial and quality performance of the system. The implications for practice are clear and actionable, he writes.
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Participation in a System-Thinking Simulation Experience Changes Adverse Event Reporting
Society for Simulation in Healthcare • June 2020
Researchers’ findings suggest that using Friday Night at the ER or other systems thinking skill-building activities improves error reporting leading to enhanced error prevention strategies.
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A Multisite Study Demonstrates Positive Impacts to Systems Thinking Using a Table-top Simulation Experience
Nurse Educator • April 2020
Researchers analyzed pre- and post-game data from health care students in six different disciplines at five universities to find that those who play Friday Night at the ER demonstrate improved systems thinking skills.
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Enhancing Systems Thinking for Undergraduate Nursing Students Using Friday Night at the ER
Journal of Nursing Education • Nov 2018
Researchers offer a thorough explanation of how systems thinking is foundational to QSEN competencies, how Friday Night at the ER teaches it and how the game produced measurable improvements in systems thinking skills using the Systems Thinking Scale.
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Using a Role-Play Simulation Game to Promote Systems Thinking
Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing • Jan 2019
Educator Judith Young details her experience with Friday Night at the ER in this peer-reviewed piece.
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