Escape Rooms in Nursing Education: A Systematic Review

Background: Escape rooms (ERs) are being increasingly used in nursing education as an active and game-based learning method. Purpose: To conduct a systematic review to synthesize evidence on the current use of ERs in nursing education. Methods:A mixed methods systematic review was performed to identify and synthesize existing literature. Five databases were searched in July 2023. Descriptive and thematic analysis were used to synthesize quantitative and qualitative data, respectively. Results: A total of 333 studies were found after searching 5 databases. After 2 independent reviews, a total of 57 studies were identified across 5 countries. There were 16 qualitative studies, 34 quantitative studies, and 7 mixed methods studies. Four main themes were identified. Conclusions: ERs are widely used across different topics and settings in nursing education and are enjoyed by the majority of participants; however, more rigorous research is needed to confirm whether ERs improve learning outcomes.