Date of Award

Spring 5-6-2023

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Dr. Elizabeth Schurman

Second Advisor

Dr. Tiffany Greer

Scholarship Domain(s)

Scholarship of Discovery, Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Abstract

Despite being a top healthcare priority, patient safety remains a problem in the U.S. with hundreds of thousands of annual patient deaths due to medical errors. Communication breakdowns within the healthcare team are a key factor in poor patient outcomes and in relatively low retention rates among healthcare professionals, especially nurses. To prepare nursing students for a successful entry into the profession, nurse educators must consider alternate strategies for teaching communication skills to a new generation of students. This qualitative study explored the use of a game-based escape room as part of a multi-part communication lesson plan and its impact on student perceptions of the value of communication in healthcare. The data for the current study was collected from a small sample of nursing students representing multiple generations at a Midwestern community college. The study found that the educational escape room raised awareness among nursing students of the importance of communication to a healthcare team. It also highlighted the greater affinity of younger students for immersive game approaches in education. These findings indicate the need and opportunity of including non-traditional teaching methods in nursing curriculum tailored for the unique learning profiles of a new generation of nursing students.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

Professional Biography

Dr. Leslie Moyar is a Clinical Instructor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and is a practicing Nurse Practitioner specializing in acute care. She lives with her family in Chicago, Illinois.

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