Date of Award

5-2021

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Pharmacy

First Advisor

Jessica Wilhoite

Abstract

Introduction: Escape rooms are a novel form of entertainment that have become increasingly popular in the United States. The idea of an escape room has great potential for educational purposes as well. In professional healthcare schooling, they have been used to supplement what students learn in the classroom. Interactive learning through the use of an escape room has been studied in the setting of pharmacy students completing their third year of traditional didactic learning. As of yet, there is no published literature that analyzes the use of escape rooms in the Advanced Pharmacy Practice Experience (APPE) setting.

Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate student knowledge retention following participation in a diabetes themed escape room used for APPE students completing an ambulatory care rotation. The secondary objective of this study was to evaluate student satisfaction of this learning activity.

Methods: The study consisted of a 10-question knowledge assessment to be taken before and after APPE students completed the escape room activity. Students were also given a 14-item survey to provide feedback on the escape room activity itself. Students received assessments and surveys electronically and completed them through Qualtrics software, Version 2019 of Qualtrics. All survey responses were obtained anonymously and no identifiable information was collected. Students on rotation from January 2020 through February 2021 were given the option to participate in the study.

Results: Fifty-six students participated in the escape room activity and 46 students (82%) completed some portion of the pre/post assessment and survey. Sixteen students completed all portions of the pre/post assessment and were able to be matched for analysis. A paired t-test was used to analyze assessment questions. The mean (± SD) score for pre-assessment was 76.25% ± 11.47 and 83.75% ± 9.57 for post-assessment with a p-value of 0.0285. Twenty-four students completed the satisfaction survey following completion of the escape room and reported generally positive feedback for the escape room as an educational activity. Nineteen students (83%) agreed that this activity should be continued in the future.

Conclusion: This escape room activity helped students understand a specific health-related topic and how it is utilized in practice through an enjoyable and team-building method. High rates of satisfaction among students indicate continued future use of this learning activity. Further studies consisting of a larger number of participants are needed to further assess how effective this teaching method is for knowledge retention.

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