Virtual toxicology escape room: A novel method for providing toxicology education

ABSTRACT

Background: The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic led to unprecedented changes to medical education as educators adapted to a world necessitating precautions and social distancing. In response to the pandemic, the Emergency Medicine Residents' Association (EMRA) committees' educational programming in association with the American College of Emergency Physicians 2020 Scientific Assembly (ACEP20), initially scheduled to be held in Dallas, TX, between October 26-29, 2020, transitioned to a fully virtual conference. Escape rooms have become popular recreational activities over the last several years. In-person escape rooms are structured around working in teams to solve a series of puzzles in a fictional scenario that allows participants to "escape" the room upon completion. The teamwork and problem-solving skills utilized in escape rooms lend themselves to use in medical education. The traditional in-person escape room format has previously been applied to toxicology for the purposes of providing engaging toxicology education to emergency medicine (EM) residents. Method(s) The researchers developed and led the first nationwide virtual toxicology escape room during ACEP20 using the Zoom platform. The activities consisted of one web-portal linking to a sequence of four Google Forms multiple-choice question quizzes and four games made on Wordwall.net, a virtual educational activity creator. Six teams of 5 residents and medical students from residency programs across the country registered and participated for a total of 30 participants. Teams were split into Zoom breakout rooms, each moderated by at least one medical toxicologist and/or medical toxicology fellow. A survey was sent to participants to assess their overall experience with the activity. Result(s) Every team completed all eight activities within 45 min. This activity demonstrates the feasibility of a large-scale, realtime competitive virtual escape room to engage participants and deliver toxicology education. The lessons learned from exploring virtual sessions like this one will be valuable tools in the future of medical education. Ten participants completed the survey. 80% of respondents reported that the event increased their interest in toxicology. 90% agreed that the format was easy to navigate, instructions were clear, questions were understandable, and toxicologists were well utilized in the event. Conclusion(s) Toxicology-themed escape rooms have potential as virtual activities to educate EM residents on essential toxicology knowledge. While the small survey response rate limits the generalizability of this data, these initial results are promising and suggest that virtual escape rooms may be a viable option for increasing interest in toxicology among resident physicians.