Objective: To evaluate the impact of integrating the core concepts of physiology into medical education on first-year medical students’ mechanistic understanding, learning efficiency, and confidence in applying complex physiological knowledge, using a Cardiovascular-themed escape room as an active learning strategy. Hypothesis: Early introduction and reinforcement of physiology core concepts through interactive learning activities will improve students’ comprehension of cardiovascular physiology and enhance performance on course assessments. Methods: 128 first-year medical students were introduced to the core concepts of physiology during their first course in medical school (Foundations). During the Cardiovascular block, an optional escape room was created in which all puzzles required application of core concepts to decode physiological mechanisms and clinical scenarios. Following the activity, students completed an evaluation survey and subsequently took the Cardiovascular final exam. Survey responses and exam scores were compared between escape-room participants and non-participants. Data & Results: Students reported that using physiology core concepts within the escape room improved their understanding of cardiovascular physiological mechanisms (4.60/5), reduced the time needed to comprehend course material (4.55/5), and increased their confidence in tackling complex clinical situations (4.32/5). They also reported high perceived relevance of the core concepts to medical education (4.89/5) and strong enjoyment of this learning format (4.72/5). Qualitative feedback emphasized that the core concepts were “very useful” and would “serve as an essential foundation” during future medical training. Students who completed the core-concept escape-room activities scored 4.1% higher on the Cardiovascular final exam than those who did not. Conclusions: Integrating physiology core concepts into medical education strengthens mechanistic reasoning, improves learning efficiency, enhances clinical problem-solving confidence, and increases student engagement and perceived relevance of physiology within medical training. Using active learning strategies such as escape rooms provides an effective platform for applying core concepts in interactive, clinically relevant contexts. Future work will examine the longitudinal impact of this integration throughout medical school and into residency. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.
Miller et al. (Fri,) studied this question.