New Perspectives in Science Education

Medical escape rooms provide an innovative learner centered platform that can mimic a clinical environment. Playing a game creates a dynamic educational environment that enhances retention of knowledge, encourages bonding, improves communication and reinforces learning [1]. Escape Room is a competitive mental and physical adventure game, that shares several similarities to the clinical environment and gives a chance for the participants to not only reflect on self-knowledge and skills but also to learn from other members of the team [1],[2]. Our aim was to 1) design a medical themed escape room for residents  which can be used as an adjunct to traditional teaching methods 2) use this model to teach and reinforce medical knowledge and enhance team building in a fun but life-like clinical environment 3) conduct post activity survey to gather demographic data, perceived feedback on fun, satisfaction, education and skill building 4) discuss future expansion of this tool to assess its efficacy as a teaching tool 5) discuss how to expand the tool to other learner/department/institution level with limited resources. So we created an activity consisting of several puzzles interlinked together based on medical concepts, logic and critical thinking skills. A group of 4-7 medical trainees participated for 45 min. Games included series of increasingly complex puzzles, image identification, object matching/retrieval. At the end, participants underwent debriefing by a faculty member. Post survey data from 76 residents showed this was the first escape room experience for half of them. More than 95% of our residents were interested in exploring new forms of learning. 98.7% rated the activity to be enjoyable. Residents agreed that the activity promoted retention of information & identification of knowledge gaps as well as providing opportunities to teach & assess critical aspects of all six core competencies: practice-based learning and improvement, patient care and procedural skills, systems-based practice, medical knowledge, communication skills and professionalism. As intended, residents discovered meaningful connections between the activity and everyday clinical situations such as managing a medical emergency. We were able to provide a new learner centered interactive, thought provoking, hands-on teaching platform to develop critical thinking skills that can also be used to provide opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborative learning.

Keywords: escape room, medical education, famification, skill building.

References

1. Jambhekar, K., Pahls, R. P., & Deloney, L. A. (2020). Benefits of an Escape Room as a Novel Educational Activity for Radiology Residents. Academic Radiology, 27(2), 276–283.
2. Kinio, A. E., Dufresne, L., Brandys, T., & Jetty, P. (2019). Break out of the Classroom: The Use of Escape Rooms as an Alternative Teaching Strategy in Surgical Education. Journal of Surgical Education, 76(1), 134–139.