Work

Educational Escape Room Reinforcement of Infection Prevention in Third-Year Student Pharmacists

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Infection prevention and control (IPC) competencies are essential to safe patient care across practice settings. This cross-sectional survey study aimed to describe the ability of an escape room to reinforce IPC concepts and knowledge retention rates for third-year student pharmacists. METHODS: An IPC-themed escape room using a mixture of online and physical puzzles was incorporated into a third-year student pharmacist course. Students in the course took knowledge assessment and perception surveys before the escape room (T1), after the escape room (T2), and for retention at the end of the semester (T3). RESULTS: < 0.05) increases in knowledge occurred on four out of five of the knowledge assessment questions between the pre- and post-assessments (T1, T2) as well as between the pre- and retention assessments (T1, T3). Student confidence in their ability to provide patient care compliant with IPC practices also demonstrated statistically significant improvement between pre, post, and retention assessments (T1, T2, T3). CONCLUSIONS: An IPC escape room is an effective tool to reinforce IPC concepts and increases student pharmacist knowledge and confidence in patient safety practices. Future study iterations should evaluate the role of an IPC IPE event for utility across multiple health professions curricula.

Source: Pharmacy

DOI: 10.3390/pharmacy13050114

Authors: Benjamin Gal, Tony Le, Jiya Thomas, Crystal K. Hodge

Institutions: University of North Texas Health Science Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Educational Games and Gamification

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Good health and well-being, Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,172