Perioperative Educator Atlantic General Hospital Berlin, Maryland, United States
Description: Insufficient staff engagement during routine simulation-based exercise prevents knowledge retention and assimilating new concepts into their thought processes and everyday functions to promote superior patient outcomes. The Perioperative Educator reported time, monetary resources, and didactic content as barriers to presenting educational opportunities staff members perceive as stimulating and encourage participation. Annually, the Surgical Services team completes an airway fire simulation to demonstrate competency. The Perioperative Educator incorporated an escape room into the mock scenario to stimulate involvement and sustain attention. The staff entered a vacant operating room, were “locked” inside, and presented a scenario with five puzzles. After solving each puzzle, the staff would receive an action. The team had to place the steps in the correct sequence to obtain the code to save the patient and exit the room. The staff evaluations of the educational activity demonstrated increased knowledge retention and participant satisfaction. The escape room proved to be a low-cost, effective training tool to drive engagement and increase participation. It is a versatile gaming platform with endless opportunities educators can incorporate into didactic lessons and mock scenarios across multiple disciplines.