Can You Escape Sepsis? Using a Healthcare Escape Room as an Innovative Approach to Nursing Education

Abstract

Purpose/Objectives The purpose of this article is to provide the clinical nurse specialist with an interactive, creative, and fun approach using an escape room to increase the retention and application of knowledge about caring for patients with sepsis and improve patient care outcomes. Description of the Project This project involved the design of a healthcare-based escape room, where clinical nurses and interprofessional learners engaged in a series of puzzles and problem-solving experiences to apply clinical judgment and critical thinking about patient care. Theory and Frameworks Knowles' theory of adult learning guided the development of this gamified learning. Outcome The clinical nurse specialist was critical to the success of the escape room. The escape room created an innovative learning environment, expanding opportunities to engage staff and promote high-quality care for best patient outcomes. Conclusion The benefits of incorporating adult learning principles with gamification-based education as a teaching strategy are evident in the feedback and overwhelmingly positive responses received from participants. The successes of the sepsis escape room have presented opportunities to continue supporting progressive, fun, and evidence-based learning environments and positively impact both nursing education and patient care outcomes.

Usefulness of Digital Game-Based Learning in Nursing and Occupational Therapy Degrees: A Comparative Study at the University of Burgos

“…Nevertheless, the results found in this study must be taken carefully due to the characteristics of the sample, since we worked with third-year students in two degree programs at the same university and the selection was not random. Moreover, this work addressed the analysis of the effects of DGBL, specifically of conceptual fixation games and testing games, but not the effectiveness of simulation games [22,32,34,36,37]. It is proposed to address this study in future research.…”

“…All these activities are very useful to apply them to the training of students of health sciences (i.e., nursing, occupational therapy, medicine, psychology, etc.). Specifically, healthcare-based escape room games are being used with great success in nursing degree programs [36]. This type of game facilitates student retention and application of patient care knowledge.…”

“…This type of game facilitates student retention and application of patient care knowledge. Additionally, it has been shown to improve the quality of patient care in real intervention settings [36]. Similarly, it increases student engagement and the development of critical thinking [37].…”

Design and Evaluation of an Athletic Training Educational Escape Room

“…1 The educational escape room is an innovative teaching strategy that combines learning design, game mechanics, and logic. 2 Educational escape rooms have been used in higher education in a variety of disciplines, such as pharmacology, 3 nursing, [4][5][6] physical therapy, 7 medicine, 8 and computer programming. 9,10 They have also been used outside the classroom.…”

Gamification for the Win in Internal Medicine Residency: A Longitudinal, Innovative, Team-Based, Gamified Approach to Internal Medicine Board-Review

“…Given the basis for gamification as a useful learning technique, the value and perception of game-based learning have been described with an emphasis on engagement, learning climate, and learner perspectives 2 2 [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Studies have shown modest improvements in knowledge and surgical skills with respect to gamified educational systems; most of this work has been done in subspecialties within Internal Medicine and Surgery [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. These studies use primarily electronic platforms and do not commonly employ real-time directly competitive games, other than escape rooms.…”