Last Saturday I was invited to give a presentation on educational escape rooms in pharmacy education at the 28th Federation of Asian Pharmaceutical Association (FAPA) Congress 2022 and National Pharmacists Convention (NPC) 2022.
At the beginning of the talk, I outlined the roles of pharmacists in the fast-paced modern healthcare settings. So what are the skills deemed important in the future pharmaceutical workforce?
Strong communication skills, teamwork and collaborative problem-solving are perhaps important in pharmacy. That is, in addition to the core clinical skills. In view of post-Covid19 era, the world seems more challenging and uncertain with increasing complexities that a one-man show and a simple solution may prove inadequate.
But how to teach students these skills in a pharmacy programme? In a meaningful, fun and interactive manner. In a conducive, active learning environment that fosters teamwork, rapport and trust.
Photo credit: Ms Hiew Chui Li, President of Sabah Pharmaceutical Society
Enter Educational Escape Rooms
Remote teaching during the Covid-19 has taught me a lot. A quick Google Scholar search on “student perception” and “Covid-19 pandemic” will return studies reporting on students’ online learning experiences in the last two years. Most reported mixed experiences, but some entirely negative.
During the pandemic, the biggest change was the learning environment. From face-to-face to online.
So I think, the key lies in creating and providing a conducive environment for students’ learning to take place. To this end, educational escape rooms tick all boxes, and more to enhance students’ learning experiences, confidence and skills.
Students positively perceived EERs whether it’s implemented online, hybrid and face-to-face.
Research in educational escape rooms (EERs) is emerging – globally and in pharmacy education. Google Scholar alerts me every week on new EERs – often there’re about 6-8 new studies reporting on creative adaptions or creation of EERs for various topics and disciplines.
Digital EERs are another emerging research frontier due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Hybrid EERs combine perhaps the best of both worlds and help reduce the costs and simplies the logistics.
To find out more, you can check out and download my presentation delivered at 28th FAPA from ResearchGate: http://dx.doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10798.18246
