Featured Press



The Power of Teamwork: How We Can All Work Better Together

HarperCollins • April 2022

Friday Night at the ER features prominently in the new book, The Power of Teamwork: How We Can All Work Better Together by Dr. Brian Goldman. Here’s an excerpt: “Board games like Friday Night at the ER are showing Fortune 500 companies and other organizations that running a busy emergency room provides valuable insight that can help anyone who is part of, or leads, a team to be more effective.” Read a sample.

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Research

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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Press

USU Medical Students Experience Healthcare Complexity Through Interactive Gameplay

USU News • November 2024

The Preventive Medicine and Biostatistics department at the Uniformed Services University introduced Friday Night at the ER to the medical class of 2028 to help students understand the interconnectedness of the military healthcare system.

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The Power of Teamwork: How We Can All Work Better Together

HarperCollins • April 2022

Friday Night at the ER features prominently in the new book, The Power of Teamwork: How We Can All Work Better Together, by Dr. Brian Goldman. Here’s an excerpt: “Board games like Friday Night at the ER are showing Fortune 500 companies and other organizations that running a busy emergency room provides valuable insight that can help anyone who is part of, or leads, a team to be more effective.”

Read a sample.

‘Friday Night at the ER’ Helps Students Learn Collaboration

UBNow • October 2021

The University at Buffalo’s Office of Interprofessional Education led nearly 400 first-year health professions students through the game in the fall of 2021 to help them learn about interprofessional collaboration.

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What a Board Game Reveals about Fighting COVID-19

Shannon G. Taylor Blog • April 2020

Friday Night at the ER illustrates how systems thinking can help hospitals fight pandemics like COVID-19, writes Shannon G. Taylor, an associate professor of management from the University of Central Florida.

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Developing Essential Leadership Skills through Simulation

Organization Development Review • April 2019

Founder Bette Gardner details how simulation is no longer limited to technical skills, and can advance essential leadership skills such as critical thinking, prioritization and effective communication.

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Play to Train: Seriously Fun Medical Board Games for Clinical Learning

HealthySimulation.com • Oct 2019

Friday Night at the ER tops this list of critical thinking board games in healthcare compiled by simulation journalist Lance Baily.

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Friday Night at the ER: Fun Learning Through a Tabletop Simulation

Mark Graban’s Lean Blog • Dec 2018

Lean leadership expert, Mark Graban, describes his experience playing Friday Night at the ER and its compatibility with Lean concepts.

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Health Care Change Agents: Bette Gardner, CEO and Founder, Breakthrough Learning

Medical Training Magazine • Dec 2017

Founder Bette Gardner explains how systems thinking can solve complex problems in healthcare – and any industry.

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‘Friday Night at the ER’ teaches teamwork

Portland Business Journal • Nov 2017

Founder Bette Gardner and CEO Jeff Heil talk about the universality of our team-learning game.

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Rx for Rural Health Care: Friday Night at the ER

Training Magazine • September 2017

Nurse educators from UNC Chapel Hill are using our game to improve communication and collaboration in rural hospitals.

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