Escape Room Research Articles

Exploring the impact of escape rooms on clinical judgment to improve patient outcomes: A quality improvement project

Educators are challenged to develop pedagogy that incorporates clinical judgment. Teaching strategies should include collaboration, clinical practice, and reflection to promote clinical judgment in nursing students. The literature suggests escape rooms which are game-based educational learning tools, promote safety awareness, teamwork, collaboration, clinical judgment, and content retention. A virtual escape room was created based on the topics of heart failure, post-operative care, and fluid overload in attempt to. Five junior level nursing students enrolled in an adult health clinical participated in the quality improvement project. The students were evaluated using the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric. The results revealed that the virtual escape room activity may have promoted clinical judgment. Future research is needed to further validate the use of virtual escape rooms in nursing education.

Escape the Anxiety: An Interactive Dosage Calculations Escape Room as a Contextualized Math Review.

An innovative teaching strategy was designed to prepare undergraduate nursing students for their dosage calculations assessment. An interactive virtual escape room presented students with the opportunity to help discharge their patient from the hospital. Within Google Forms, nurse educators created a branching storyline where the answers selected determined the path the students would take to meet the learning objectives.

Applied Gamification Using Virtual Escape Rooms: Case studies in Entrepreneurial and Anatomy Classes

Gamification can be applied to a wide spectrum of contexts and disciplines, to provide a rich and experiential learning opportunity for multiple cohorts of students. Escape rooms have potential as an enjoyable and challenging collaborative learning environment, but they require extensive organisation and resources. The use of Google Forms to create a virtual escape room addresses these difficulties but provides a comparable cooperative experience. This paper presents the experiences and recommendations of educators in two third level institutions that implemented Google Form-based virtual escape rooms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Implementation of educational escape rooms in a nurse practitioner doctoral curriculum.

Escape rooms have gained popularity as a means for team building while working to accurately complete challenging puzzles to 'escape' the room. The use of escape rooms is starting to emerge in healthcare education, including nursing, medicine, dentistry, pharmacology, and psychology. An escape room intensive was created and piloted using the Educational Escape Room Development Guide during the second year of the DNP program. The objective was to challenge their clinical judgment and critical thinking as they solved a series of puzzles created to provide hints for resolving a complex patient scenario. All faculty (n = 7) and most students (96 %, n = 26/27) felt the activity contributed to students' learning process while all students and the majority of faculty (86 %, 6/7) strongly agreed that content was relevant to develop decision making skills. Educational escape rooms can provide engaging, innovative learning to support development of critical thinking and clinical judgment.

Virtual escape room paired with simulation improves health professions students' readiness to function in interprofessional teams

BackgroundThis project investigated the change in nursing, pharmacy, and physical therapy students' interprofessional socialization after participation in a virtual interprofessional escape room and case conference simulation. Interprofessional education activityInterprofessional teams of nursing (n = 93), pharmacy (n = 75) and physical therapy (n = 33) students completed asynchronous, online learning (sepsis recognition and total hip replacement post-operative precautions) followed by a virtual escape room and a virtual simulated patient case conference. During the case conference, interprofessional student teams developed a discharge plan for an individual after a hip replacement complicated by post-operative sepsis. Before and after the experience, students completed a knowledge test and a validated survey instrument that assessed their interprofessional socialization (Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-21). During the simulated patient case conference, faculty assessed student performance using a standardized rubric. After the experience students completed a program evaluation. DiscussionInterprofessional socialization significantly increased (5.5 ± 0.9 vs. 6.0 ± 0.9) among all students with a medium effect size (Cohen's d = 0.56). Faculty assessment of individual student's team performance during the virtual simulation revealed a moderate rate meeting competency, with good interrater reliability. Students highly valued this learning experience as being both effective and important to their professional development, as indicated on the program evaluation. ImplicationsA virtual interprofessional experience consisting of asynchronous online learning, a virtual escape room, and a virtual case conference positively influenced students' interprofessional socialization. Students valued the experience and recognized its importance in their development as student health professionals.

How intention/reflection fosters student learning in an interprofessional experiential escape room activity

How intention/reflection fosters student learning in an interprofessional experiential escape room activity

Innovative haematology virtual escape room for medical education.

Medical EducationEarly View REALLY GOOD STUFF Innovative haematology virtual escape room for medical education Vania Zayat, Corresponding Author Vania Zayat [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3725-0324 Correspondence Vania Zayat, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, FL, USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAndrea Berry, Andrea BerrySearch for more papers by this authorDiane D. Davey, Diane D. DaveySearch for more papers by this authorMelissa Cowan, Melissa CowanSearch for more papers by this author Vania Zayat, Corresponding Author Vania Zayat [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-3725-0324 Correspondence Vania Zayat, University of Central Florida College of Medicine, Orlando, FL, USA. Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorAndrea Berry, Andrea BerrySearch for more papers by this authorDiane D. Davey, Diane D. DaveySearch for more papers by this authorMelissa Cowan, Melissa CowanSearch for more papers by this author First published: 28 February 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.15046Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation

Designing and Evaluating Aventura Marina: A Serious Game to Promote Visitors’ Engagement in a Science Museum Exhibition

Abstract Museums have employed video games in their exhibitions to foster visitors’ participation and improve their learning process through a positive experience. In this work, we present Aventura Marina, a serious video game inspired by escape room game mechanics, composed of an app and an authoring tool, which aims to promote visitors’ engagement with the new exhibition Sea Hall of the Caracol Museo de Ciencias, a Mexican museum in the northwest of Mexico. To design Aventura Marina, we followed a user-centered design approach, based on the design thinking methodology. We evaluated the high-fidelity prototype of the game and the low-fidelity prototype of the authoring tool with museum staff and potential visitors. Our results indicate that Aventura Marina has the potential to promote visitors’ engagement with the Sea Hall exhibition as participants indicated having a positive experience, recognized that they were more interested in and less bored by the topics of the exhibition and that they were eager to play the game again. In relation to the authoring tool, museum staff mentioned how this project could be implemented in other halls of the museum. Finally, we discuss the improvements for a future iteration of the prototypes and how this kind of technology can complement the content of museum exhibitions.

Digital Educational Escape Rooms in Language Classrooms

Digital Educational Escape Rooms in Language Classrooms

Child Maltreatment Education: Utilizing an Escape Room Activity to Engage Learners on a Sensitive Topic

Child Maltreatment Education: Utilizing an Escape Room Activity to Engage Learners on a Sensitive Topic

Breaking outside the box: Use of escape rooms in pharmacy residency interviews

AbstractBackgroundThe American Society of Health‐System Pharmacists Pharmacy Resident Match continues to be a competitive process. In recent years, postgraduate year 1 (PGY1) applicants have outpaced available positions. An increase in the number of highly qualified applicants has made identification of standout candidates challenging for residency programs. There is a need to assess nonacademic attributes, such as: leadership, communication, teamwork, problem‐solving, and self‐awareness. These are essential to pharmacy resident success, though are not easily elicited with traditional interview questions.AimsThe purpose of this interview escape room activity was to observe and differentiate PGY1 pharmacy residency candidates' nonacademic attributes and clinical knowledge through real‐time, problem‐based engagement. This descriptive report details the program's use of team‐based escape rooms in the pharmacy residency interview process and provides recommendations for developing and implementing an interview escape room activity.Materials and MethodsThe interview escape room was conducted for a PGY1 program at a large, academic medical center in San Antonio, Texas, during the 2020–2022 residency recruitment seasons. Participants were observed and assessed using the Communication and Teamwork Skills assessment.ResultsThe escape room allowed candidates to showcase their academic and nonacademic skills in various ways. Candidates reported feeling more relaxed than in traditional interviews.DiscussionElements of developing an interview escape room activity include planning and design, theme selection, knowledge and puzzle pairing, content testing, execution, and feedback.ConclusionInterview escape rooms provide insight into the skillset of candidates in the areas of communication, leadership, and teamwork, and create a memorable interview experience for both candidates and residency leadership.

Beat The Clock! Implementation and Evaluation of an Escape Room

Nurse practitioner students may complete clinical rotations without exposure to many high-acuity, low-frequency disease states. Students must readily recognize and apply their diagnostic and critical thinking skills to these low-frequency clinical conditions. This report describes the impact of an escape room activity on the knowledge acquisition and perceptions of adult-gerontology acute care nurse practitioner students. Postactivity assessment surveys were overwhelmingly positive, confirming student perceptions of the escape room as a collaborative learning tool that identified their knowledge gaps. All student teams successfully escaped the room, and a postactivity knowledge assessment confirmed the student's knowledge of the escape room content.

Abstract TP113: Stroke Escape Room: A Novel Stroke Education Technique

Introduction: Georgia is one of the leading states in the country with high mortality rates from stroke. Even in post-COVID times, beside nurses have been challenged with obtaining the required number of stroke education hours for the organization’s stroke certification. A Stroke Escape Room was developed as an innovative way to meet annual stroke education hours. Purpose: The Stroke Escape Room is designed to help front-line staff achieve their annual stroke education requirements while promoting their understanding and retention of clinical practice guidelines. Methods: Three independent stroke patient scenarios were developed. Each patient scenario was associated with a combination access lock box. Participants answer questions about the scenario. The answers to the questions are associated with the numbers to unlock the box and move on to the next scenario. A final lock box contains an evaluation to assess learning. The session took approximately 30 minutes to complete. With course completion, the nurse receives 30 minutes of stroke education credit, a certificate for completion, and a BE FAST badge buddy. Participants were encouraged to attend the activity in small groups with at least one member being a Registered Nurse. A poster displaying stroke related clinical practice guidelines was displayed in the Escape Room. Results: A total of 22 staff participated in the activity. The participants attended in groups varying from one participant to four participants. Most (63.6%) participants work in the Emergency Department, 13.6% work on the stroke unit, 13.6% are educators, and 9% work in the Intensive Care Unit. Feedback received was extremely positive. Majority of participants reported positive experience, stating the education technique was fun, engaging, and promoted critical thinking. In addition, more than half the participants requested to use similar technique in other settings. Conclusion and Next Steps: Implementing an escape room for learning encouraged participants to interact. This type of educational design promotes collaboration and critical thinking. In conclusion, additional scenarios are being developed along with questions designed to promote critical thinking related to the phases of care.

Planning an Escape: Considerations for the Development of Applied Escape Rooms

Background Teams are essential to a wide array of applications and organizations often utilize varying interventions to improve the effectiveness of their teams. Due to their collaborative and modifiable characteristics, escape rooms are being increasingly utilized as an avenue to both deliver team interventions and to function as testbeds in research. Escape rooms are complex, interdependent activities which warrant careful planning to be effectively implemented. Despite the growing literature base concerning escape rooms, there is still limited practical guidance to inform the development of an escape room. Aim The purpose of this article is to provide seven considerations that are relevant to the development, implementation, and effectiveness of an escape room. Specifically, guidance is provided in determining the objectives, identifying a theme, assigning the roles, establishing participant interdependence, selecting a venue, designing the puzzles, and creating the assessments. Conclusion The considerations provided in this article can advance the science underlying the use of escape rooms and preclude difficulties associated with their use.

Building digital escape rooms for learning: From theory to practice.

Digital games are increasingly used to support learning across a diverse range of cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains in health professions education. Game-based learning will likely become an important competency for educators. However, educators can perceive game building as out of their reach due to a lack of expertise in digital technology. This toolbox offers advice to health professions educators who would like to build a simple game for learning known as a digital educational escape room.

‘Sadly, my group was “hanged” at the end of the evening’: the politics of deservingness and representation at carceral-themed escape rooms

ABSTRACT Escape rooms are a popular new form of leisure and amusement globally, including in North American cities. Based on a thematic and discourse analysis of online content, we examine ten carceral-themed escape room operations in the United States and Canada. Drawing on theories of cultural power and neoliberalism, we analyze the messages conveyed by site operators about the deservingness of life, freedom and justice for imprisoned people. Contributing to literature on dark tourism and dark leisure, we also explore how the ideas of a ‘crime complex’ and ‘safe contact’ are reflected in representations of penality attached to escape room games. We argue that such depictions misrepresent the realities of carceral experience, producing understandings of carcerality and deservingness that foster punitive views among participants.

The escape room and breakout as an aid to learning STEM contents in primary schools: an examination of the development of pre-service teachers in Spain

ABSTRACT Gamification consists of using game elements in non-game contexts, such as in education, aiming to promote cooperation, motivation, or engagement. Here, the Escape Room and Breakout games are in early stages in formal educational environments. Specifically, in primary education, this type of tools can be useful to support the teaching and learning process of pupils. This study aims to describe a BrEscapeRm (Escape Room and Breakout combine) used as educational tool to teach STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) contents in a science course of degree in Primary Education. After completing the activity, students’ perception about the BrEscapeRm were gauged, resulting that they found it funny, interesting, motivating, and exciting. However, a certain rejection to the tasks containing calculation and science contents was detected. During BrEscapeRm development, students were very focused on each task and there was a sense of pleasure at the end of BrEscapeRm. Therefore, this activity could have multiple benefits for the student’s motivation and engagement in learning in primary education.

ESCAPE the Boring Lecture: Tips and Tricks on Building Puzzles for Medical Education Escape Rooms.

Escape rooms in medical education are a novel, game-based learning approach for teaching medical topics. In these escape rooms, learners complete a sequential series of medical-themed puzzles leading them to "escape" a specific story. Designing puzzles can be anxiety-provoking and may be the gatekeeper for educators in medicine to create their own escape rooms. Though there have been publications on the importance and methods of building a healthcare-themed-escape room, there is a gap in the literature on designing puzzles to teach specific learning objectives successfully. In this Scholarly Perspective, the authors share puzzle ideas and support tools and use Bloom's taxonomy as the framework to teach educators how to design challenging and engaging escape room puzzles.

Mathematical digital escape rooms

AbstractEscape rooms have been receiving more attention for use in education. Escape rooms are games in which teams solve multiple puzzles and challenges using clues, hints, and strategy to determine how to escape from a locked room. The implementation of escape rooms has the potential for increasing students' mathematical understanding and engagement. They also enable students to develop teamwork and communication skills which are essential for work, everyday life, and being a productive citizen. The importance of technology for use in education has also received more attention of late. Technology can be utilized with escape rooms for the development of digital escape rooms. This article describes a mathematical digital escape room that was implemented with a class of middle school students. Important principles for developing escape rooms are described and how they were integrated with the digital escape room entitled, Blanca's Building.

Does Insomnia Cause Revenge Seeking Behavior? Using a Puzzle-Based Sleep Lab Educational Escape Room to Teach Circadian Rhythms in a Large Introductory Neuroscience Course.

Traditional large lecture classes can be passive experiences for students. Instead, imagine that several of those learners work at a sleep laboratory and admit four new patients. Within hours, the entire facility is on lockdown, and a mysterious voice on the intercom proclaims that all researchers will lose their ability to sleep within the next hour. This story is the plot of an interactive educational escape room (EER) where students work together and apply concepts related to the history of sleep research, circadian rhythms, and neurological concepts of sleep to solve puzzles. Conventionally, escape rooms are an entertainment experience that requires participants to escape a room in a limited timeframe. We have created a neuroscience EER designed to educate students about the neural basis of sleep, while providing small groups of students with an immersive and interactive experience. Students follow a specially designed digital escape room framework to review sleep pathways, researchers, and brain regions involved with sleep. Unlike conventional escape rooms that can accommodate a limited number of participants, this sleep lab EER is scalable to hundreds of students without the need for a specialized room. Puzzles are enhanced by digital technology that allows instructors to track the progress of every team and note how the entire classroom is doing. Students and teaching assistants had very positive experiences with this EER activity, reporting that the EER solidified course concepts while using creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking skills. We find that EERs are an easy, useful tool to increase engagement and boost inclusivity within large classroom settings, with potential to also be used as an assessment tool.