Unlocking Knowledge: Designing an Infectious Diseases-themed Escape Room for Medical Student and Resident Education
Clicks: 9
ID: 327943
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This
article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score —
reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
Reader Engagement
Emerging Content
2.4
/100
9 views
8 readers
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
EmergingRanked #184 of 241 articles by views in Open forum infectious diseases
Most read
Least read
Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 241 in total.
Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet mintedCreate a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.
5
SUSD
one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
Abstract Background Infectious diseases (ID) education faces challenges with learner engagement, confidence, and specialty recruitment. Game-based learning, including educational escape rooms, offers an innovative strategy to increase engagement while reinforcing clinically relevant concepts. We designed an ID-themed escape room integrated into monthly clinical rotation curriculum for medical students and internal medicine residents. Methods General and targeted needs assessment informed eight learning objectives addressing board-relevant topics and common clinical errors: isolation precautions, zoonoses, empiric antimicrobial selection, laboratory safety, organism identification, molecular diagnostic interpretation, sexually transmitted infections, and MRSA-active antimicrobials. The physical outbreak-themed escape room used a hybrid puzzle structure with eight objective-aligned puzzles. Pilot testing by ID faculty, fellows, and medical students informed clarity, flow, and timing. Learners completed post-activity Likert-scale surveys assessing engagement, enjoyment, confidence, and perceived educational value. Results The escape room was implemented in April 2024. Twenty-five learners completed the post-activity survey. All participants agreed or strongly agreed that the activity was engaging, fun, enjoyable, and that they would like to participate in similar educational activities in the future. Most learners agreed or strongly agreed that the activity improved understanding, was a valuable addition to their learning experience, and increased confidence. Conclusions This ID-themed escape room provided an engaging, learner-centered approach to reinforcing clinical reasoning, antimicrobial decision-making, and infectious diseases concepts. Intentional alignment of learning objectives with puzzle design offers a reproducible roadmap for educators seeking to integrate escape rooms into clinical curricula. Future work should evaluate knowledge acquisition, scalability, sustainability, and effects on interest in ID careers.
| Reference Key |
openalex_W7140351875
Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using
SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Mackenzie R Keintz, Catherine J Cichon, Jasmine R Marcelin, Benjamin Arbeiter |
| Journal | Open forum infectious diseases |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/ofid/ofag561
|
| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
Citations
No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.