Over 200 TTSH Healthcare Workers Go Through A Series of Puzzles in ‘Escape Rooms’ To Improve Palliative Care Skills

“Mum, training was intense today.”

“Omg my poor child, what on earth did they subject you through?”

“An escape room.”

Though this snippet may seemingly hail from some poorly-written novella on Amazon Books, it’s actually more synonymous with reality than you would think.

And for the record, it appears to be pretty effective too.

Over 200 TTSH Healthcare Workers Go Through A Series of Puzzles in ‘Escape Rooms’ To Improve Palliative Care Skills

According to The Straits Times, more than 200 healthcare workers at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) were required to undergo training from 22 March to 31 March 2021.

As for their rigorous training scheme in question? Putting on costumes and solving puzzles in an improvised Escape Room setting.

According to the news report, the facility was set up in a collaborative effort between TTSH and an escape room vendor.

Spanning 75 minutes in length, the trial comprises five stations – which test participants’ proficiency at taking care of patients.

For instance, trainees were asked to ascertain the level of care required for a patient, common symptoms and intervention techniques.

Clues were also embedded in rooms, with numerous puzzles awaiting the greatest minds in the batch. Participants were also required to finish pre-and post-game quizzes, do a survey and share key learning points to successfully ‘graduate’ from the brief course.

Apparently, the core aim of the escape room was to gain knowledge of palliative rehabilitation care. For those unaware, palliative rehabilitation care involves patients with life-limiting diseases.

One such instance is last-stage lung disease.

More often than not, their conditions end up declining. And that is where occupational therapists, who formed 100 of the total batch, come in.

Left with no other route, occupational therapists are in charge of slowing or managing a patient’s decline.

In other words, they will be there to see a patient through his or her worst.

“Our population is ageing at the moment, so we will soon see more patients who need palliative rehabilitation care. We will need occupational therapists to have knowledge of this sort of care, and how they can assist patients and their families,” said senior occupational therapist Nurul Ain Rahmat.

And Feedback Has Been Positive

Despite the relatively unconventional training regime, participating healthcare workers have largely expressed positive feedback.

One participant, 24-year-old occupational therapist Jasmine Ang, said: “Compared with regular training such as online learning and lectures, this escape room experience enhances the learning process as it is more engaging and interactive.”

“I thoroughly enjoyed the experience,” she added.

And Ms Ain has praised the activity’s teamwork-building aspect.

“As healthcare professionals, we often need to work in teams, so it’s important to improve such skills,” she said.

‘Fun’ Training

Gone are the days when training involves whips, headbutts and other barbaric elements.

It’s a new age, and training does not necessarily have to be overly harsh and fun-nulled.

In fact, there are tons of set-ups promising a fun-filled training experience for both prospective and established companies.

So maybe it’s time to move on and embrace an all-new learning approach.

As long as it’s legal and gets the job done, why should it matter whether it’s a proper or ‘fun’ approach?

Though of course, we would prefer to avoid such scenarios as this one. For obvious reasons.

Featured Image: Viacheslav Nikolaenko/ Shutterstock.com