Twelve tips for creating an escape room activity for medical education

Abstract

Communication, teamwork, and resilience all require active practice by healthcare teams. Games such as escape rooms can add variety, interactivity, and value to teaching sessions. Escape room activities typically include a variety of sequential puzzles that lead participants to break free of a room, or can be adapted into an ‘escape box’ challenge where participants work to successfully unlock a box. Escape room or escape box exercises can help healthcare teams develop and enhance team skills, as well as reinforce medical knowledge. We developed an escape box session to teach and reinforce organizational Safety II principles and the resilience potentials: monitor, respond, learn, and anticipate. We report 12 tips to effectively organize and develop an escape room or escape box activity for multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

Keywords:

• Education environment
• communication skills
• methods
• professionalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kasey Davis

Kasey Davis is a pediatric critical care physician and associate medical director of simulation at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

Huay-ying Lo

Huay-ying Lo is a pediatric hospitalist and medical director of quality at Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands.

Royanne Lichliter

Royanne Lichliter is a pediatric nurse and assistant director of quality education and simulation at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Kelly Wallin

Kelly Wallin is a pediatric nurse, certified simulation educator, and quality/safety education leader at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Gemma Elegores

Gemma Elegores is a master prepared simulation education specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Sharon Jacobson

Sharon Jacobson is a pediatric nurse and patient safety specialist at Texas Children’s Hospital.

Cara Doughty

Cara Doughty is a pediatric emergency medicine physician and medical director of the simulation center at Texas Children’s Hospital.