A Didactic Escape Game for Emergency Medicine Aimed at Learning to Work as a Team and Making Diagnoses: Methodology for Game Development

Abstract

Background In the health care environment, teamwork is paramount, especially when referring to patient safety. We are interested in recent and innovative solutions such as escape games, which is a type of adventure game that may be highly useful as an educational tool, potentially combining good communication skills with successful gamification. They involve teams of 5 to 10 individuals who are “locked” in the same room and must collaborate to solve puzzles while under pressure from a timer. Objective The purpose of this paper was to describe the steps involved in creating and implementing an educational escape game. This tool can then be put into service or further developed by trainers who wish to use it for learning interprofessional collaboration. Therefore, we started with an experience of creating an educational escape game for emergency medicine teams. Methods We chose to develop an educational escape game by using 6 successive steps. First, we built a team. Second, we chose the pedagogical objectives. Third, we gamified (switched from objectives to scenario). Next, we found the human and material resources needed. Thereafter, we designed briefing and debriefing. Lastly, we tested the game. Results By following these 6 steps, we created the first ambulant educational escape game that teaches people, or nurses, doctors, and paramedics, working in emergency medicine to work as a team. Conclusions From a pedagogic point of view, this game may be a good tool for helping people in multidisciplinary fields (medical and paramedical teams) to learn how to work collaboratively and to communicate as a group. Above all, it seems to be an innovative tool that complements medical simulation–based learning and thus consolidates traditional education.

Design and implementation of two medical escape rooms: An educational case study

“…ER literature generally describes single scenarios 4,11–13 . A novel aspect of our case study was the presentation of two different scenarios (Figures 1 and 2), developed to cover different presentations and learning objectives.…”

“…ER literature generally describes single scenarios. 4,[11][12][13] A novel aspect of our case study was the presentation of two different scenarios (Figures 1 and 2), developed to cover different presentations and learning objectives. A further novel aspect is the presentation of a structured ER debriefing guide (Figure 5) which may help other educators transfer their experience of briefing and debriefing in simulation to the ER context.…”

“…The concept has been applied to several professional settings, including medical education. [1][2][3][4] Scenario-based ERs are founded on experiential learning theory with reflective observation after the learning event. 1,5 ERs make use Sarah Snow and Katie Percival should be considered joint first author.…”

An evaluation of undergraduate student nurses' gameful experience whilst playing a digital escape room as part of a FIRST year module: A cross-sectional study

“…Whilst gamification-based T&L activities can be a valuable learning experience, they may not necessarily be effective in increasing student knowledge and skills ( Cerenzio and Ocheretyaner, 2021 ). Yet, they may be effective in helping students learn how to work collaboratively and to communicate as a group ( Abensur Vuillaume et al, 2021 ), how to think critically, apply theory to practice and solve problems ( Clauson et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Although serious gaming had been incorporated into healthcare professions education before COVID-19 ( Cole and Ruble, 2021 ), use of serious educational games became more widespread during the pandemic, as healthcare faculty were challenged to develop a new online approach to replace the former face-to-face activities ( Suppan et al, 2021 ). Serious games are defined as games where entertainment is secondary to education ( Donovan et al, 2021 ; Lateef et al, 2021 ), and where game principles are used for learning, training and skill development ( Abensur Vuillaume et al, 2021 ).…”