An innovative escape room activity to assess student readiness for advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs)

In addition to clinical knowledge, teamwork and critical thinking are skills necessary to be successful during advanced pharmacy practice experiences (APPEs). One way that educators can help students to achieve these skills is with the utilization of educational games.

Faculty from different departments worked together to develop an educational activity modeled after the escape room game concept for third year pharmacy students enrolled in a pre-APPE readiness course.

The knowledge pre-assessment mean was 81 ± 11.6, with a range of 53 to 105. The mean score following the escape game activity was 79 ± 14.5, with a range of 41 to 100. On average, students scored 3 points lower on the post-assessment (-2.8 ± 13.4). Despite the decrease in overall mean scores from pre-assessment to post-assessment, the overwhelming majority of students (96%, n = 51) felt that this exercise improved clinical skills and facilitated learning.

The escape room activity was developed in such a way that it focused on teamwork, critical thinking, problem solving, and the integration of didactic coursework with the intent that the students could apply their knowledge in a simulated scenario. The students viewed the activity in an overwhelmingly positive light, and their perceptions of the impact of the activity on their ability to think critically and integrate content from their previous courses indicated that the game format has the potential to impact student skills in these areas.