Abstract
Poster presentation
Session B presented Monday, September 30, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Purpose: Emergency Department staff must possess the complex knowledge and skills necessary to competently care for critically injured patients. Providing meaningful and ongoing educational opportunities to assist nurses and EMTs with maintaining trauma competency is challenging. Passive education via lecture doesn’t meet the needs of most adult learners who instead seek active learning experiences. An escape room was designed and implemented as an educational tool with the objective of engaging staff in an interactive learning environment to increase knowledge and skills requisite when caring for trauma patients. Based on learning needs assessment, other specific objectives identified were massive transfusion protocol, locating supplies in the trauma room, and familiarity with resources available in the trauma room.
Design: The creation of an escape room to teach and reinforce trauma related care concepts to ED nurses and EMTs was a staff development project aimed at improving knowledge and skills.
Setting: This educational experience was provided at a 444-bed, Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center, which is a Magnet-designated, urban academic medical center serving a seven-state region.
Participants/Subjects: All ED nurses and EMTs were eligible to participate in this project, which was offered during an optional educational event. A total of 35 nurses and three EMTs participated in the escape room. All participants were able to complete the learning experience by successfully escaping the room.
Methods: ED staff were surveyed to identify trauma-related learning needs, objectives identified, and an escape room created to help address learning gaps. 38 ED staff members participated in the activity, 21 of whom later responded to a post-event survey. A 5-point Likert scale was used to quantify participants’ perceptions of how the experience affected knowledge and comfort level with skills applicable in the care of trauma patients. The survey also included open-ended questions to give participants the opportunity to add specific data not included in survey.
Results/Outcomes: Use of an escape room as an active learning strategy engaged staff while also increasing their knowledge and comfort with skills surrounding the care of trauma patients. Of those submitting the survey, 71.4% either strongly agreed or agreed that they feel confident in their ability to apply what they learned in the escape room to clinical practice. Prior to participating in the escape room activity, only 9.5% of participants reported feeling very comfortable or extremely comfortable with massive transfusion protocol. Following the activity, 57.2% described feeling more confident in their ability to perform massive transfusion protocol. ED staff comfort level with locating supplies in a trauma room was also positively affected with 33.4% more staff feeling extremely comfortable or very comfortable following participation in the escape room. Staff describing themselves as extremely familiar or very familiar with the resources available in a trauma room, such as supply kits and checklists, increased from 23.8% pre-event to 66.7% post-event.
Implications: Development of a trauma focused escape room learning activity successfully provides ED staff an opportunity to actively engage in learning. This approach also positively impacts their knowledge and comfort with skills necessary to care effectively for trauma patients.
Sigma Membership
Non-member
Type
Poster
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
N/A
Research Approach
N/A
Keywords:
Education, Escape Room, Active Learning
Recommended Citation
Bianco, Julie; Elliott, Courtney; and Loresto, Figaro Jr, "Breakout of the box: Innovative education using an escape room" (2020). General Submissions: Presenations (Oral and Poster). 85.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/gen_sub_presentations/2019/posters/85
Conference Name
Emergency Nursing 2019
Conference Host
Emergency Nurses Association
Conference Location
Austin, Texas, USA
Conference Year
2019
Rights Holder
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All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.
All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
Breakout of the box: Innovative education using an escape room
Austin, Texas, USA
Poster presentation
Session B presented Monday, September 30, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Purpose: Emergency Department staff must possess the complex knowledge and skills necessary to competently care for critically injured patients. Providing meaningful and ongoing educational opportunities to assist nurses and EMTs with maintaining trauma competency is challenging. Passive education via lecture doesn’t meet the needs of most adult learners who instead seek active learning experiences. An escape room was designed and implemented as an educational tool with the objective of engaging staff in an interactive learning environment to increase knowledge and skills requisite when caring for trauma patients. Based on learning needs assessment, other specific objectives identified were massive transfusion protocol, locating supplies in the trauma room, and familiarity with resources available in the trauma room.
Design: The creation of an escape room to teach and reinforce trauma related care concepts to ED nurses and EMTs was a staff development project aimed at improving knowledge and skills.
Setting: This educational experience was provided at a 444-bed, Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Center, which is a Magnet-designated, urban academic medical center serving a seven-state region.
Participants/Subjects: All ED nurses and EMTs were eligible to participate in this project, which was offered during an optional educational event. A total of 35 nurses and three EMTs participated in the escape room. All participants were able to complete the learning experience by successfully escaping the room.
Methods: ED staff were surveyed to identify trauma-related learning needs, objectives identified, and an escape room created to help address learning gaps. 38 ED staff members participated in the activity, 21 of whom later responded to a post-event survey. A 5-point Likert scale was used to quantify participants’ perceptions of how the experience affected knowledge and comfort level with skills applicable in the care of trauma patients. The survey also included open-ended questions to give participants the opportunity to add specific data not included in survey.
Results/Outcomes: Use of an escape room as an active learning strategy engaged staff while also increasing their knowledge and comfort with skills surrounding the care of trauma patients. Of those submitting the survey, 71.4% either strongly agreed or agreed that they feel confident in their ability to apply what they learned in the escape room to clinical practice. Prior to participating in the escape room activity, only 9.5% of participants reported feeling very comfortable or extremely comfortable with massive transfusion protocol. Following the activity, 57.2% described feeling more confident in their ability to perform massive transfusion protocol. ED staff comfort level with locating supplies in a trauma room was also positively affected with 33.4% more staff feeling extremely comfortable or very comfortable following participation in the escape room. Staff describing themselves as extremely familiar or very familiar with the resources available in a trauma room, such as supply kits and checklists, increased from 23.8% pre-event to 66.7% post-event.
Implications: Development of a trauma focused escape room learning activity successfully provides ED staff an opportunity to actively engage in learning. This approach also positively impacts their knowledge and comfort with skills necessary to care effectively for trauma patients.