Digital storytelling in health professions education: a systematic review

Background Digital stories are short videos that combine stand-alone and first-person narratives with multimedia. This systematic review examined the contexts and purposes for using digital storytelling in health professions education (HPE) as well as its impact on health professionals’ learning and behaviours. Methods We focused on the results of HPE studies gleaned from a larger systematic review that explored digital storytelling in healthcare and HPE. In December 2016, we searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and ERIC. We included all English-language studies on digital storytelling that reported at least one outcome from Levels 2 (learning) or 3 (behaviour) of The New World Kirkpatrick Model. Two reviewers independently screened articles for inclusion and extracted data. Results The comprehensive search (i.e., digital storytelling in healthcare and HPE) resulted in 1486 unique titles/abstracts. Of these, 153 were eligible for full review and 42 pertained to HPE. Sixteen HPE articles were suitable for data extraction; 14 focused on health professionals’ learning and two investigated health professionals’ learning as well as their behaviour changes. Half represented the undergraduate nursing context. The purposes for using digital storytelling were eclectic. The co-creation of patients’ digital stories with health professionals as well as the creation and use of health professionals’ own digital stories enhanced learning. Patients’ digital stories alone had minimal impact on health professionals’ learning. Conclusions This review highlights the need for high-quality research on the impact of digital storytelling in HPE, especially on health professionals’ behaviours. PROSPERO registration number CRD42016050271. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12909-018-1320-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.