Development and implementation of a virtual interprofessional escape room to reinforce tobacco cessation concepts

It is vital that healthcare professionals work together in a concentrated effort to help patients achieve tobacco cessation. As such, it is essential that students in health professions programs learn the Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) core competencies of collaborative practice including communication, teamwork, values and ethics, and professional roles and responsibilities to be effective members of patient care teams. This article describes the development and implementation of an interactive, virtual escape room instructional activity that reinforced important tobacco cessation concepts with pharmacy, dental, dental hygiene and physician assistant students. Interprofessional groups consisted of 6–7 students, and students were given 60 min to work through thirteen escape room puzzles to solve two patient cases related to tobacco cessation and to successfully escape. Puzzle concepts included pharmacology, contraindications and dosing of medications, drug-drug interactions, behavioral modifications, health risks associated with tobacco use, motivational interviewing, risks of vaping, vaccines and neurobiology of addiction. One hundred and thirty-five students participated in the interprofessional activity, and students completed pre- and post-surveys to assess knowledge gains and perceptions of the virtual escape room. Students reported an improvement in four interprofessional competencies of collaborative practice, and knowledge improved on all twelve conceptual questions, with seven questions showing statistically significant improvements. Student perceptions of the escape room were overall positive, with 84% of students reporting that they will use knowledge that they gained from the escape room in their professional practice. In conclusion, the use of this educational instructional activity was an effective way to reinforce and emphasize important tobacco cessation concepts and to promote the core competencies of interprofessional education and practice. Allowing students to work together and recognize the contributions of different members of the healthcare team has vital implications for helping patients achieve tobacco cessation, which has the potential to improve patient health, reduce healthcare costs and prevent both acute and chronic diseases.