Use of an Escape Room Experience in Emergency Veterinary Medicine Education.

This article focuses on the development and implementation of an escape room experience (ERE), a form of gamification, in veterinary emergency medicine education for third-year students at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), University of Saskatchewan. The ERE was designed to simulate the stressful, fast-paced emergency room environment by having learners solve puzzles aligned with course objectives within a time limit, promoting clinical reasoning, communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. Following two iterations, student feedback indicated high enjoyment, motivation, and perceived learning benefits, with the experience fostering what some described as positive stress (eustress). The article details the design process, delivery, and debriefing of the ERE, emphasizing the importance of aligning puzzles with learning objectives and recommending individualized debriefs for future sessions. It also identifies gaps for future research, including objective assessment of stress types and content retention related to EREs in veterinary education.