Leveraging gamified learning, the Department of Family and Community Medicine is working to revolutionize medical education proving that, for learners, practice makes perfect.
Beginning this week, programs across the state will participate in the 2025 Alabama Family Residency Cup, which features five weeks of competition as residents compete as a team to answer daily questions designed to cover topics considered relevant for clinical application or for board examinations.
“Alabama’s residents are among the very best and brightest in the country, and UAB is continually searching for innovative ways to teach and reinforce clinical concepts,” explained Irfan Asif, M.D., chair of the Department of Family and Community Medicine and associate dean of Primary Care and Rural Health. “Drawing from the gamified learning model successfully used in other UAB programs, we developed the Alabama Family Medicine Residency Cup for several reasons. Obviously, we want to help residents prepare for their board certification examination, but we also wanted to create a network of trainees across the state, helping them to develop relationships through friendly competition.”
The Jackson Hospital and Clinic Family Medicine Residency Program in Montgomery took first place in 2024’s inaugural Alabama Family Medicine Residency Cup competition, besting nearly 230 Family Medicine residents across 11 teams who participated. Individual participants were also recognized, with Jessica Grady, M.D., from the UAB St. Vincent’s East Family Medicine Residency at Christ Health Center earning first place honors. Four residents from the Gadsden Regional Family Medicine Residency program and one member of the Cahaba-UAB Family Medicine Residency program also placed in the Top 6 individually.
In 2025, participating programs have also collaborated to submit questions for use in the game, expanding the potential topics covered during the month-long competition but also providing an opportunity for learners as they gained experience working within the extensive criteria for creating effective board-style questions.
“Crafting a question on a specific topic prompts residents to really think critically, leading to a deeper understanding of that topic,” said Daniel Fijabi, M.D., an assistant professor within the Department of Family and Community Medicine who is spearheading the Cup. “We received over 200 questions from various residents in different residency programs across the state. I am truly impressed by the level of engagement from residents and site leaders statewide.”
As the competition continues to grow, it promises to further strengthen the network of family medicine professionals across Alabama, ultimately improving patient care and outcomes.
“Residents have cited factors like integration into a regional primary care network, and program excitement, energy, and enthusiasm as reasons they remain in underserved areas to practice,” said Asif. “The Alabama Family Medicine Residency Cup has sparked that relationship-building and enthusiasm among residency programs statewide.”
Gamified learning involves integrating game elements into non-game applications to boost user engagement and experience. The Kaizen platform—funded by the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Science and other institutional grants—allows educators to create formative question sets accessible via a website or mobile app, utilizing principles of cognitive psychology such as retrieval practice, elaboration, appropriate context, dual coding, interleaving, and spaced practice.
The department has been on the forefront of gamification, creating instructional variety in delivering core family medicine concepts for clerkship students via the Kaizen Family Medicine Knowledge Game, which launched in May 2023.
Interested faculty members are encouraged to register and play along—which does not impact program scores—when 2025 Alabama Family Medicine Residency Cup competition begins on Sept. 1. Register at go.uab.edu/afmrcup2025.