Escape-room training linked to airway knowledge and teamwork readiness

A multimodal airway-management escape room was associated with higher knowledge scores and greater readiness for interprofessional learning among pre-hospital emergency medicine and anaesthesia students than conventional education in a small quasi-experimental study. The researchers reported that the 53 participants assigned to the escape-room intervention achieved significantly greater post-intervention airway-management knowledge scores than the control group, with a reported P value below 0.001. Students in the intervention group also recorded higher scores on the Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale, or RIPLS, than their counterparts in the conventional-education group, with P = 0.001.

The strongest measured difference between groups appeared in the scale’s teamwork and collaboration domain, for which the reported P value was below 0.001. These results concern short-term educational outcomes in one student population and do not demonstrate changes in clinical performance or patient care. The study used a pretest-posttest design and was conducted in 2026 at the Clinical Skills Center affiliated with Birjand University of Medical Sciences.

A total of 53 anaesthesia and pre-hospital emergency medicine students were allocated to an experimental escape-room group or a control group receiving conventional education. The investigators used stratified block randomization based on academic major and semester, while characterizing the study as quasi-experimental. Before the intervention, the groups did not differ significantly in demographic characteristics.

Data were gathered through a demographics form, an airway-management knowledge assessment and the RIPLS. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS version 26. The experimental program combined physical challenges, virtual scenarios, advanced clinical simulation and augmented reality into an airway-management escape-room experience.

The study assessed whether this format could support both subject knowledge and interprofessional learning readiness. Airway management was described in the research as a fundamental competency in emergency situations, where decisions may need to be made under stressful, time-sensitive conditions. The investigators therefore examined not only students’ knowledge of airway management but also their self-reported preparedness to work and learn with professionals from other disciplines.

Unlike a knowledge test alone, the intervention was designed to place airway-management learning within an interactive educational environment that included simulation and several forms of digital and physical material. However, the supplied findings do not identify how many activities made up the session or establish which individual component produced the observed group differences. After the intervention, the escape-room group showed a significantly greater increase in airway-management knowledge scores than the control group, with the reported comparison yielding P < 0.001.

Overall RIPLS scores were also significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group, with P = 0.001. The largest reported improvement was in teamwork and collaboration, where the between-group result was P < 0.001. Not every dimension of interprofessional learning readiness changed significantly.

The difference for professional identity was not statistically significant, with P = 0.181, and neither was the difference for roles and responsibilities, with P = 0.369. The measured pattern therefore points to the clearest association with perceived teamwork and collaboration rather than an improvement across all aspects of readiness. Because the study compared educational experiences, the results support the escape room as a complementary modality for this setting, not as evidence that it can replace conventional instruction or produce durable clinical gains.

Several limitations constrain how far the findings can be generalized. The sample included only 53 students, all recruited from a single setting, and the intervention was evaluated over a short term. The RIPLS findings reflect students’ self-reported readiness, while the study measured educational outcomes rather than workplace performance, patient outcomes or long-term retention.

The multimodal design also means that the results cannot be attributed to augmented reality, simulation, virtual scenarios, physical challenges or their combination considered separately. The authors called for longer-term and multicentre research to clarify the approach’s effectiveness and broader applicability. Within the evidence presented, the study nevertheless offers a notable result: a single airway-management escape-room program coincided with higher knowledge test performance and a marked increase in self-reported teamwork readiness, while producing no statistically significant changes in professional identity or roles and responsibilities.

Subject of Research: Airway-management escape-room training for interprofessional learning and knowledge among anaesthesia and pre-hospital emergency medicine students

Article Title: Effect of an airway management escape room on readiness for interprofessional learning and knowledge levels among pre‑hospital emergency medicine and anaesthesia students: a quasi‑experimental study

Article References: moghadam, S. A., Amouzeshi, Z., & Tolyat, M. (2026). Effect of an airway management escape room on readiness for interprofessional learning and knowledge levels among pre‑hospital emergency medicine and anaesthesia students: a quasi‑experimental study. BMC Medical Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-10376-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-026-10376-7

Keywords: airway management, escape room, simulation training, interprofessional learning, teamwork, medical education, anaesthesia students, emergency medicine, augmented reality, Effect, airway, management