ReviewCureus2026
Educational Escape Rooms for Infection Prevention and Patient Safety Training in Medical and Nursing Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Review in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Teaching Attitude, Ethics and Communication Through the Use of An Online Escape Room for First-Year Medical Students.Advances in medical education and practice · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Educational escape rooms have emerged as innovative tools for infection prevention and patient safety training, yet their overall effectiveness remains unclear. The existing literature shows substantial variation in instructional design, learner populations, and measured outcomes, highlighting the need for a systematic evaluation of their impact on knowledge, behavioral readiness, and process performance. To address this, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Multiple databases were searched without date restrictions, and studies were included if they employed escape room-based training for infection prevention or patient safety and reported quantitative outcomes. Risk of bias was assessed using design-specific tools, and meta-analyses were performed for outcomes reported by at least two independent studies. Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis of immediate post-training knowledge revealed a statistically significant improvement associated with escape room participation (pooled standardized mean differences (SMD) ≈ 0.86; 95% confidence interval (CI) ≈ 0.33-1.39), despite substantial heterogeneity (I² > 80%). Knowledge retention over 1-3 months showed a positive but less precise effect (pooled SMD ≈ 0.72; 95% CI ≈ -0.02-1.45). Qualitative synthesis indicated consistent benefits in engagement, self-efficacy, perceived preparedness, and teamwork, alongside favorable trends in process measures such as procedural adherence and safety behaviors; however, most of these outcomes were derived from uncontrolled studies. Overall, escape room-based interventions appear to enhance immediate knowledge in infection prevention and patient safety, with promising yet uncertain effects on knowledge retention, behavioral readiness, and process outcomes. While the findings support their educational value, methodological limitations in the existing evidence warrant cautious interpretation and further rigorous investigation.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.