TY - JOUR

T1 - Perceptions of medical students on narrow learning objectives and structured debriefing in medical escape rooms

T2 - a qualitative study

AU - Jørgensen, Tami

AU - Rosenkrantz, Oscar

AU - Eberhard, Kristine Elisabeth

AU - Jensen, Theo Walther

AU - Dieckmann, Peter

N1 - © 2024. The Author(s).

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - BACKGROUND: Escape rooms are increasingly used in medical education as a complementary learning technique or even alternative to traditional educational approaches. Few studies focus on debriefing following medical escape rooms and how escape rooms can be used to achieve pre-defined learning objectives. Evaluating the use of narrow learning objectives may increase the depth of reflections and transform an engaging team event into an effective learning opportunity. This study aimed to explore participants' experiences and perceived learning outcomes of narrow learning objectives in a medical escape room with debriefing.METHODS: In this explorative, qualitative study, participants saw a video lecture, participated in an escape room experience, and in a following debriefing. Throughout this learning session, the learning objectives concerned "exchange of information" and are therefore relatively narrow. Participants then participated in a semi-structured focus group interview and completed a demographic questionnaire. Participants were volunteer final-year medical students. Focus group interview recordings were transcribed and analysed using systematic text condensation.RESULTS: Thirty-two students in eight groups completed the study. Five themes were described in the analysis of the focus group interviews: Experience with the narrow learning objectives, topics discussed in the debriefing, learning mechanisms, learning outcomes concerning exchange of information and influences of the learning approach.CONCLUSIONS: Narrow learning objectives and structured debriefing seem to increase perceived learning depth of medical escape room sessions. Using semi-structured debriefing still allows for discussions of other elements relevant to the students.CLINICAL TRIALS: Clinical.trials ID NCT04783259.

AB - BACKGROUND: Escape rooms are increasingly used in medical education as a complementary learning technique or even alternative to traditional educational approaches. Few studies focus on debriefing following medical escape rooms and how escape rooms can be used to achieve pre-defined learning objectives. Evaluating the use of narrow learning objectives may increase the depth of reflections and transform an engaging team event into an effective learning opportunity. This study aimed to explore participants' experiences and perceived learning outcomes of narrow learning objectives in a medical escape room with debriefing.METHODS: In this explorative, qualitative study, participants saw a video lecture, participated in an escape room experience, and in a following debriefing. Throughout this learning session, the learning objectives concerned "exchange of information" and are therefore relatively narrow. Participants then participated in a semi-structured focus group interview and completed a demographic questionnaire. Participants were volunteer final-year medical students. Focus group interview recordings were transcribed and analysed using systematic text condensation.RESULTS: Thirty-two students in eight groups completed the study. Five themes were described in the analysis of the focus group interviews: Experience with the narrow learning objectives, topics discussed in the debriefing, learning mechanisms, learning outcomes concerning exchange of information and influences of the learning approach.CONCLUSIONS: Narrow learning objectives and structured debriefing seem to increase perceived learning depth of medical escape room sessions. Using semi-structured debriefing still allows for discussions of other elements relevant to the students.CLINICAL TRIALS: Clinical.trials ID NCT04783259.

KW - Humans

KW - Students, Medical

KW - Learning

KW - Qualitative Research

KW - Focus Groups

KW - Education, Medical

U2 - 10.1186/s12909-024-05295-4

DO - 10.1186/s12909-024-05295-4

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 38605342

VL - 24

JO - BMC Medical Education

JF - BMC Medical Education

SN - 1472-6920

IS - 1

M1 - 403

ER -