Extract:
“Pediatric emergency department visits have been declining since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to decreased exposure to pediatric emergency care for EM residents and other learners in the ED. This is a major problem, given that the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) mandates that a minimum of 20% of patient encounters or five months of training time for EM residents must occur with pediatric patients, with at least 50% of that time spent in the ED setting. A minimum of 12 months must be spent in the pediatric ED for PEM fellows, and an average of 7.1 weeks of medical school are spent in pediatric clerkships. This decrease in pediatrics exposure in the post-pandemic environment can be addressed through simulation and gamification. We selected the gamification method of an escape room to create an engaging environment in which learners could interface with key pediatric emergency medicine clinical concepts via group learning.
By the end of this small group exercise, learners will be able to: Demonstrate appropriate dosing of pediatric code and resuscitation medications. Recognize normal pediatric vital signs by age. Demonstrate appropriate use of formulas to calculate pediatric equipment sizes and insertion depths. Recognize classic pediatric murmurs. Appropriately diagnose congenital cardiac conditions. Recognize abnormal pediatric electrocardiograms (ECGs). Identify life-threatening pediatric conditions. Demonstrate intraosseous line (IO) insertion on a pediatric model. Demonstrate appropriate use of the Neonatal Resuscitation Protocol (NRP®) algorithms.
Reference:Pelletier J, Romo E, Feinstein B, Smith C, Pellerito G, Croft A. Little Patients, Big Tasks – A Pediatric Emergency Medicine Escape Room. J Educ Teach Emerg Med. 2023 Oct 31;8(4):SG1-SG19. doi: 10.21980/J89W70. PMID: 37969155; PMCID: PMC10631808.