Promoting Intraprofessional Collaboration and Critical Thinking With Escape Rooms: An Example of a Clinical Skills Class

Escape rooms are an increasingly popular, innovative teaching modality in health care education. This study validated that escape rooms promote students' learning outcomes and intraprofessional teamwork. Plain-Language Summary: This study assessed the effectiveness of using an escape room as a teaching tool in a clinical skills class for occupational therapy (OT) and occupational therapy assistant (OTA) students. The findings revealed significant improvements in the students' teamwork, active learning, critical thinking skills, and knowledge levels after the escape room experience. These results suggest that incorporating escape rooms into OT education can enhance learning outcomes and should be further explored in future studies with more rigorous experimental designs. This innovative approach benefits students' academic development and can affect OT practice. Fostering collaboration and critical thinking better prepares students to provide comprehensive and effective care to their future clients. This study contributes to the growing body of research that supports active learning pedagogies in OT education, highlighting the importance of engaging and experiential learning methods in preparing students for real-world practice.