Gamified training goes virtual
Pharmacy teams are using gamified virtual escape rooms to boost emergency-preparedness and team-based disaster response, a model being suggested for broader healthcare training reported. The approach combines scenario-based decision-making with low-stakes simulation for interdisciplinary teams.
Deborah Booth and Allison Tempo of Atlantic Health/Overlook Medical Center developed a PowerPoint‑based virtual escape room and published their peer‑reviewed report in Pharmacy Practice in Focus: Health Systems (November 18, 2025) [pharmacytimes.com]. Their single‑center pre/post study used a November 2023 presurvey, enrolled 7 pharmacy team members who completed the game and follow‑up, and reported increased self‑rated disaster‑response readiness from baseline where under 20% of pharmacists felt adequately prepared; the authors flagged the small sample as a primary [limitation pharmacytimes.com]. A 2023 American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education systematic review concluded educational escape rooms consistently produced gains in content knowledge and teamwork across pharmacy programs, supporting the modality’s pedagogic signal beyond single [sites ajpe.org]. Higher‑volume implementations exist: an online medicinal‑chemistry escape‑room activity engaged 184 third‑year pharmacy students in a synchronous session, and a web‑based hepatitis escape room was piloted at Monash University as a 60‑minute learning activity, illustrating scalable templates for discipline‑specific content. [files.eric.ed.gov] Interprofessional trials paired virtual escape rooms with simulation and reported improved interprofessional socialization among nursing, pharmacy, and physical‑therapy learners in a 2023 project, indicating the format’s suitability for team‑based disaster drills and cross‑discipline protocol [practice sciencedirect.com]. Practical, low‑cost toolkits and checklists are available—Laerdal’s simulation resources and hospital STAR‑center programs publish templates—and several health systems (University at Buffalo, Texas Health Harris Methodist) have fielded medical escape‑room simulations to test protocols and patient‑safety workflows, suggesting rapid local adaptation is feasible if institutions pair gamified scenarios with objective performance metrics and larger sample evaluations as the authors [recommend healthysimulation.com].
