Patient Safety Escape Room: A Team Simulation in Recognizing and Reporting Patient Safety Hazards

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Safety
• Healthcare Simulation

Background:

• Medical errors pose significant risks to patients and increase healthcare costs.
• Engaging early-career clinicians in patient safety initiatives is crucial but often challenging.
• Innovative educational methods are needed to improve patient safety engagement among medical trainees.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of a Patient Safety Escape Room (PSER) simulation on intern engagement in patient safety.
• To assess changes in interns' comfort levels with identifying patient safety hazards and reporting events.
• To explore the effectiveness of simulation-based learning in fostering patient safety awareness.

Main Methods:

• A Patient Safety Escape Room (PSER) simulation was designed where intern teams identified hazards and entered event reports.
• 120 interns from 14 training programs participated, completing two PSER sessions each.
• Pre- and post-simulation surveys assessed experience and comfort with patient safety tasks, alongside observer-rated teamwork.

Main Results:

• All participating interns engaged in event report entry after the PSER, compared to only 5% prior experience.
• Intern-reported comfort in identifying patient safety hazards significantly improved (P < 0.001).
• Observer-rated teamwork was lower than learner-rated teamwork (P = 0.01), and subsequent resident reporting rates did not increase.

Conclusions:

• The PSER simulation effectively engaged early-career medical learners in patient safety activities.
• While simulation improved comfort and participation, translating these gains into sustained clinical practice, such as increased reporting, remains a challenge.
• Further research is needed to bridge the gap between simulation-based learning and real-world patient safety improvements.