Students' experiences of a GP escape room

Educational escape games have become more common, yet their effectiveness needs to be evaluated to establish whether or not they are a constructive pedagogical tool.

This study explored students' experiences of a general practice (GP) based escape game to uncover whether it deserves a place in a medical school's curriculum.

A mixed methods case study within one Scottish Medical School.

Data were collected during March 2020 via 32 video recordings of an Escape Room Game, combined with participant, post-game questionnaire analysis. Video footage was reviewed in an ethnographic manner and thematic analysis conducted.

Fourteen team events constituting 718 minutes were analysed. From the footage, five themes with fourteen subthemes emerged. The five main themes were: teamwork, leadership, clinical thinking, numeracy, and gamification. From the student questionnaires (n = 131), it was reported that the GP escape room was predominantly an extremely positive educational experience.

Educational escape games appear invaluable in medical education. They can promote the growth of non-technical skills such as teamwork, leadership, and clinical thinking; all essential to working in a multidisciplinary team and enabling patient safety. Our participants struggled with numeracy in this high-pressured environment, this must be addressed to reduce potential mistakes made in the workplace. Results are supportive of educational escape games being worthy of a space within a medical school's curriculum. A GP-orientated escape room allows for early GP exposure from a different perspective, as well as equipping students with the skills to be successful in this field.