Saint Vincent Hospital Emergency Medicine - Escape Room - 02.25.23

Saint Vincent Hospital Emergency Medicine Residents tested their teamwork, knowledge and problem solving by..... 

  ... trying to beat an Escape Room. The challenge made the residents work together as team, and gave them a clean break away from the stresses of emergency medicine. The team made a successful exit from the room.  

Results/Outcome Survey
1. What was the general understanding of the purpose of the project/program by participants?

The residents were excited to participate in the wellness event because it was an opportunity for everyone to get together outside of the hospital. They were able to come together and focus on communication, teamwork and building relationships amongst the residency group.

2. During the project/program, what tangible tools or strategies were demonstrated or taught (i.e, coping skills for wellness and life balance)

The Escape Rooms provided the perfect setting to strengthen skills that are needed for effective communication. To complete the tasks within the rooms, residents needed to work well together, which was very reliant on communicating clearly and trusting one another to complete the tasks. Also, the wellness event took place right after we had the ITE, so we were able to emphasize the importance of relaxing and unwinding after stressful moments. Having reminders to focus on self-care and wellness is crucial to maintain longevity in our careers as EM physicians.

3. What word(s) best describes how you feel when you are experiencing stress or well-being imbalance?

Some words that we feel are: overwhelmed, cloudy, anxious, unhappy, irritable, in a funk, down

4. What suggestions do you have to increase the probability of success for the project/program for other institutions?

I would suggest working with your program directors to see if the event can be protected wellness time. That way more of the residents can participate in the activity and it can be more beneficial. During the week worked best for us, as many of our residents have families and children and have more going on in the weekend.

5. What do you intend to do, upon returning to work, that you learned and practiced during the activity, that will improve your response to stressful situations?

Following this event, we became closer as a residency group. We all had a great time, which has made us more comfortable relying on each other at work. We also learned to communicate with each other better which allows us to ask for help when we need it. Sometimes the hardest part of a stressful situation is reaching out to a colleague when you are in over your head. The wellness event successfully improved team dynamics and morale within our emergency medicine program.