Active Learning Using Virtual Escape Rooms to Enhance Patient Safety Education During the Medicine Clerkship

Medical errors are a leading cause of injury in the USA, making patient safety education a priority. We introduced a patient safety assignment during the Internal Medicine Clerkship designed to bring attention to quality care and safety and later optimized the activity with the introduction of an interactive novel escape room designed to facilitate learning and engage learners. This virtual escape room was introduced within an interactive Zoom-based small-group session intended to enhance education and encourage preventive practice. After a pretest on medical errors and orientation, students were placed into breakout rooms where they worked through medical error vignettes using a digital learning platform. Students completed 10 scenarios related to hand washing, fall risk, medication reconciliation, bedside alarms, decubitus prevention, medication labeling, and communication. Clues obtained from the completion of each scenario yielded a letter, and the 10 unscrambled letters yielded a word required to escape the room. A post-test was then completed to assess the effectiveness of the learning activity. One hundred eighteen students participated in the interactive session, escape room activity, and quizzes. A statistically significant improvement in overall post-quiz performance was found along with individual questions related to hand washing, ulcer prevention, and medication labeling. Student feedback was highly positive in the post-activity surveys. This virtual escape room was found to be an effective teaching method for patient safety principles, emphasizing error prevention and promotion of best practices. This virtual interactive teaching platform has potential for future applications in the medical curriculum.