Interior architecture and design student Monse Espinoza (green shirt) worked with students in the nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and social work programs during an escape room exercise Friday, Oct. 24, in the Metro Annex. Photo by Angela Foster.
On Friday, Oct. 24, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga occupational therapy, physical therapy, social work, nursing and interior architecture students worked together to build a healthier community by completing an escape room.
Dr. Meagan Oslund, assistant professor of practice, interprofessional education and practice coordinator for the ROADMAP grant, partnered with the Walker Center for Teaching and Learning to create the pilot program.
An occupational therapist by trade, Oslund explained the necessity of collaborating in a work environment.
“I came from the hospital setting in the ICU,” she said. “I understand that nursing can’t do it itself. Occupational therapy can’t do it itself. Physical therapy can’t do it itself.
“There are all these people who need to learn and work together in the real world, but often on college campuses, we stay siloed. We only work within our major and don’t venture out. But once we get to the real world, we’re expected to know how to do that.”
Oslund designed the game where students split into teams and were asked to bring their expertise to the game.
“Faculty from those areas came together and created a clue that was related but more parallel and had to do with something in their profession,” she explained. “They were given all the clues in an envelope, and we’d lock the door and said, ‘Figure it out.’”
Dr. Meagan Oslund explains the escape room rules prior to the interdisciplinary exercise.
Dr. Brooke Epperson, associate director of the UTC School of Nursing and undergraduate program coordinator, said she was pleased that her students were gaining this experience.
“I want them (nursing students) to take away that you have to utilize the strengths of other professions,” Epperson said. “Nursing can’t do it all. Physical therapy can’t do it all. Occupational therapy, social work, everybody involved—it takes the whole team to work together and be respectful.
“There are experts in each of those fields. We have to come together and be able to communicate and collaborate to make sure that the patient is being well taken care of and is set up for success.”
It may not be clear how specific majors or professions can contribute to a problem. Oslund said that gaining knowledge about other areas before entering the workforce gives students an advantage.
“One of the social work students in the back asked such a good question,” she said. “He was like, ‘I had no idea that physical therapy—one of the clues that physical therapy was, can you pick something up from a cone while also naming different types of animals.’ The social work student asked the physical therapy faculty member, ‘Why are we doing this?’
“She goes, ‘Do you ever just walk? No, we walk and talk. We walk and drink coffee.’ Learning about physical therapy is more than just being able to bend your knee up and down. It’s more—can you do that but also function in your daily life, right? There’s more learning than just the bare minimum about other professions and how you can overlap and work together.”
Gavin Watson, a senior interior architecture major from Nashville, explained that planning residential or commercial buildings requires architects to consider long-term health. He used the example of a couple hoping to age in a home and how to accommodate their potential needs.
“Every person brings a different value to a team, whether that be in your field or outside of your field,” he said. “Even getting to see the way people who are in the interior architecture program think is slightly different.”
Epperson recalled leaning on the campus community to produce training videos for nursing students. She described it as “calling in the experts.”
“UTC is a very unique campus regarding collaboration,” she said. “As a whole, we are very good at reaching out and trying to collaborate, which is—from what I hear when we go to conferences—not the case everywhere. We’re very lucky.”
With the introduction of the pilot program, Oslund hopes to have more events and expand attendance across all fields of study.
She hopes students came away understanding the value of working together and the efficiency that follows.
“We each have our own unique strengths but can offer so much more to our community if we work together,” Oslund said. “My goal is to help us bring the resources that we have.”
Learn more
Interior Architecture and Design
A model neighborhood helped escape room participants visualize their end goal of a healthier community.
