An Innovative Escape Room Intervention to Improve Medical-Surgical Nurses’ Knowledge, Confidence, and Care of Patients With Sepsis

BACKGROUND: Sepsis is a leading cause of transfers to intensive care units (ICUs) and hospital mortality, often due to delayed recognition in medical-surgical units. LOCAL PROBLEM: Project site sepsis data showed that 19.4% of ICU transfers originated from medical-surgical units, accounting for 27% of sepsis mortality cases. INTERVENTION: This quality improvement project evaluated a sepsis-themed escape room to train medical-surgical nurses. RESULTS: After training, mean knowledge scores increased from 77.4% to 82.4% ( P = .068). Significant improvements were seen in self-reported confidence in identifying patients with sepsis ( P = .02), knowing how and what to monitor in patients with sepsis ( P = .007), and knowing initial management of patients with sepsis ( P = .008). ICU transfers for sepsis decreased by 33.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Innovative escape room education for medical-surgical nurses can improve knowledge and confidence in managing patients with sepsis, which may lead to earlier recognition of deterioration and reduce sepsis-related ICU transfers.