Session Item

The University of the West of England has recently incorporated a simulation block into the teaching and learning pedagogy of the BSC (Hons) Radiotherapy and Oncology programme. The simulation block delivery traditionally relies on face-to-face authentic activities that are human resource intensive. However, recent literature supports the concept that not all simulated placement activities need to be delivered face-to-face in order to provide an authentic learning environment (Taylor, 2020; Liaw et al., 2019). With this in mind, the radiotherapy and oncology team explored the idea of developing an online placement activity that could encourage meaningful placement learning utilising self-directed online learning opportunities during a simulated placement block.

The aim of this poster is to describe the development of a virtual escape room that encourages legitimate placement learning beyond traditional models to offer students new opportunities to gain clinical skills in a non-clinical setting.

The software programme ‘Xerte’ was used to create a virtual escape room. A 360 degree photo of a linear accelerator bunker provided the backdrop for the activities that students must complete in order to ‘escape’ from the linear accelerator room. The activities were created to develop skills such as clinical reasoning, prioritising, communication, patient care and understanding of basic radiotherapy procedures. The escape room designed for first year students followed the patient from the waiting room to correctly setting up the patient for a palliative treatment. Each activity was  linked to the 360 degree image using hot spots which needed to be successfully completed in a logical sequence in order to ‘escape’ the room. Successful completion of the activities unlocked the final hot spot which was the ‘last man out’ button and signalled the end of the online activity. The escape room design can be easily adapted to cover a range of scenarios and could be adapted to meet the needs of more senior students.

The escape room was successfully developed and was incorporated into the timetable for a simulated placement block at the University of the West of England.

The development of a virtual escape room is a cost effective, user friendly, innovative way to develop clinical skills outside of the clinical setting. Simulated placements are challenging to timetable and can result in gaps in the student timetable which can become frustrating for students.  Self-directed learning activities can ensure that the student timetable is populated with meaningful learning activities that can include face-to-face and self-directed online learning opportunities.