Students’ experiences of a GP escape room

Background: 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. Aim: 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. Design and Setting: A mixed methods case study within one Scottish Medical School. Method: 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. Results: 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. Conclusion: 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.