The Use of an Escape Room to Develop Critical Thinking in Complex Wound Care
Purpose
The use of escape rooms have recently become an area of interest in both education and entertainment sectors where individuals participate in Òteam-based games where players discover clues, solve puzzles and accomplish tasks in one or more rooms in order to accomplish a specific goal ... in a limited amount of timeÓ 1 Studies in nursing, medicine, and pharmacy education indicate the use of escape rooms facilitates teamwork, student engagement, motivation, and knowledge.2Ð7 However, little research has been done regarding the use of escape rooms in physical therapy education. This study sought to determine whether an escape room could increase Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) student engagement in complex wound care, and whether students felt the escape room helped them to critically think about complex wound care patients.
Methods/Description:
An escape room was developed and implemented in a DPT wound care course. 32 students participated in the escape room. Students were offered to participate in the post survey, 30/ 32 students elected to participate in the survey. All students approved the use of their survey in educational research. The study was approved by the University of FindlayÕs institutional review board.
Results/Outcomes:
Of the 30 students surveyed, 27/ 30 indicated that outside of the classroom they enjoyed playing games, while one student strongly disagreed with enjoying games of any kind. 90% of respondents indicated agree or strongly agree to the escape room helped them to learn more about information related to complex wound evaluation. 86.67% of respondents indicated that Òthe complex wound case escape room was more useful in reviewing wound tests and characteristics than plain lecture.Ó Additionally, 93.34% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they felt engaged during the complex wound escape room.
Conclusions/Relevance to the conference theme:
The use of an escape room was effective in promoting student engagement, and content application in an area that PT students often indicate is uninteresting to them. Application of clinical decision making strategies promotes innovation in strategies that promote academic excellence and provides enhanced learning in a difficult area for PT students, thus ensuring all populations receive the best care.