UMMC students work together to ‘save world’ in escape room exercise
Published on Monday, November 22, 2021
By: Annie Oeth, aoeth@umc.edu
Mrs. Penner, a patient in the emergency department of a fictitious academic medical center, has severe back pain, plus another problem. While she was watching a Tik Tok video, her body was taken over by aliens through advanced mind-swapping technology.
The alien, aka Mrs. Penner, promises that, if the team can find the cause and correct treatment, they’ll have access to the antidote that will reverse and protect against alien mind control.
If they’re going to save the world, the care team must work together to diagnose and treat Mrs. Penner so they can unlock the box containing the antidote.
Nursing students Katherine Shell, left, and Julia Fant read the prescriptions for physical therapy for Mrs. Penner's back pain that were included with the antidote to alien mind-swapping.
That was the scenario some 430 University of Mississippi Medical Center students faced in an escape room challenge Thursday as part of interprofessional education. This was the first time escape room puzzles were used in lessons of interdisciplinary communication and collaboration on the UMMC campus.
Teams of students in medicine, nursing, pharmacy, occupational therapy and physical therapy had to find their way out of escape rooms in the School of Medicine by solving puzzles, calling on the training strengths of each discipline.
The escape room may have been a fun icebreaker for a cross-section of UMMC students, but it had a purpose, said Dr. Robin Parish, associate professor of occupational therapy in the School of Health Related Professions, one of the faculty members who helped facilitate the exercise.
Parish“They learned there is a real need for each member of the care team,” she said. “It’s also been a great experience for me to work with faculty members from different disciplines.”
Throughout each escape room were codes and clues, ranging from alien hieroglyphs to medical charts, prescription bottles and medical equipment, that helped the teams deduce how to open the lockbox containing the antidote.
Students were debriefed as a group after the exercise.
Dr. Ryan Babl debriefs students at the end of the first escape room exercise Thursday.
“What was wrong with the patient?” asked Dr. Ryan Babl, an associate professor in the School of Health Related Professions who was among faculty facilitating the escape rooms.
“She had an alien in her,” medical student Kevin Dion quipped. The discussion turned to the cause of Mrs. Penner’s back pain.
“If we had a grit scale, this team would be up there,” Babl said. “You used unconventional methods, but you saved the world by working together. I’m impressed.”
The superpowers of teamwork and communication made the score Students 1, Aliens 0.
“True interdisciplinary care is working together to develop treatment for a patient,” Babl said.
School of Nursing simulation center coordinator Tisha Beasley, said while the escape room activity was fun, it also taught the students important lessons.
Medical student Logan Ryals takes notes as the team works to decipher the puzzles of the UMMC escape room.
“This teaches them how to work with each other,” she said. “They’re learning how to come together and work as a team.”
“This is the most fun I’ve ever had in an interprofessional event,” said pharmacy student Taylor Gannon, during the debriefing after the first escape room exercise of the day, a departure from virtual interprofessional discussion boards for COVID safety.
Medical student Joshua Luke and physical therapy student Cora Geno said the group worked well together, listening to each other’s ideas without arguing and solving problems professionally.
Dr. Kristy Cole, assistant professor of occupational therapy, said the students in her escape room enjoyed the brainteasers but learned an important lesson: “They couldn’t have solved anything without each other.”