Bringing Clinical Simulation Online: Oxford Brookes University Builds ThingLink Virtual Escape Room for Postgraduate Healthcare Education

Kyla Ball July 1, 2026

Institution: Oxford Brookes University, Faculty of Health Science and Technology

Lead: Emma Mellors, Senior Lecturer Advanced and Specialist Practice / CPD Programmes

Collaborator: Sophie May, Learning & Development Lead for Urgent Care Oxford Health & Game Based Learning Researcher

Challenge

Emma Mellors and her co-collaborator Sophie May sought to design a virtual escape room for a postgraduate healthcare module, after the course shifted from in-person and hybrid delivery to a fully online format. The change was driven by the need to better meet the needs of postgraduate, distance-learning students.

The module had previously relied on in-person simulation, including actor-led scenarios that immersed students in a clinical situation and required them to assess, react, and decide on next steps in real time. While tools like Oxford Medical Simulation were already embedded, the team wanted to extend the simulation options available by designing an online experience that captured the immersive, collaborative and reactive feel of the in-person actor-led simulations — and do so within a tight timeframe, since the module had a February delivery deadline and the team also needed to secure ethical approval to collect and share evaluation data.

Neither Emma nor Sophie had coding experience, so they needed a platform that would let them build something immersive without development from scratch. The team also had to design for a specific delivery format: rather than have students complete the activity individually, they wanted small groups working together live via Zoom breakout rooms, with one student per group sharing their screen and navigating on behalf of the team — adding a layer of complexity around digital literacy, screen-sharing, and group dynamics that the design needed to account for.

Solution: ThingLink

Emma and Sophie used ThingLink to build: a virtual escape room simulating a frailty-focused clinical scenario in which learners work as part of a multidisciplinary team (MDT) within a community service  to conduct a home visit for an older adult, emphasizing the assessment and management of delirium.

Key elements of the build:

ThingLink Scenario Builder

To create the escape room functionality, the team decided upon ThingLink’s Scenario Builder escape room format. This gave them a clear, logical structure to plan and build the scenario’s back end.

AI-generated scenes and audio

With limited time and no budget for an in-person shoot with actors, the team used AI image generation tools (including ChatGPT and Copilot) to create visuals for each scene, and used AI voice generation tools to convert a written script into narrated audio.

Testing and timing

The team tested the activity with a separate group of students before launch and used the results to assess its viability. A time limit of 20 minutes was initially set, to balance realistic time pressure against giving students enough room to engage fully.

Live, group-based delivery

Sessions were run live over Zoom, with students in small groups of three working through the escape room together. One student per group shared their screen and navigated, while the others directed and contributed to decisions — designed to mirror the communication and decision-making challenges of working as a team in an unfamiliar clinical environment.

Ethical approval and evaluation design

The team secured ethical approval in advance so that evaluation data could be collected, analysed, and shared more widely.

Results and Benefits

Quantitative outcomes: Significant improvement in scores

Pre- and post-activity knowledge questionnaires (n=14) showed a statistically significant improvement in scores, with the mean score rising from 15.6/19 to 16.8/19, and the number of students achieving full marks doubling.

Qualitative outcomes: Strongly positive

Feedback (n=12) was strongly positive. Students described the session as engaging, relevant, and confidence-building, and particularly valued its realism, interactivity, and team-based problem-solving.

Several students said the activity helped them feel more confident distinguishing delirium from dementia and applying assessment tools in a structured way. The non-linear design was also well received, with students reporting that the unpredictability mirrored real clinical practice and helped keep them immersed.

Unexpected benefits: Digital upskilling and authentic responses

Several students reported that simply navigating an unfamiliar digital platform was itself a useful form of digital upskilling. The team also noted that the uncertainty some students felt while finding their way through the escape room echoed the genuine disorientation of walking into a real patient’s home for the first time — an authentic, if unplanned, parallel to clinical practice.

Lessons for future delivery

The team identified that they had underestimated variation in students’ digital literacy, and that giving students a chance to practise on a similar (but separate) platform beforehand would help reduce friction in future runs. They also plan to extend the time limit slightly, from 20 to 25 minutes, based on pilot feedback.

Wider reach and next steps

Since the pilot, Emma and Sophie have presented the pilot Escape Room at an NHS technology-enhanced learning community of practice and at Oxford Brookes’ own immersive learning symposium, generating interest in potential collaboration and funding across the university. The team has submitted an abstract to present at ASPiH (the Association for Simulation Practice in Healthcare) in Harrogate later this year, and intends to run it again with the next student cohort.

Reflecting on the platform itself, Emma noted that ThingLink stood out as the most accessible option for building an immersive scenario without a coding background, and that the experience has encouraged the team to think about further iterations and refinements as they continue to use it.

Note: This case study draws on a pilot with a single cohort (n=14 for quantitative data, n=12 for qualitative data). The team has been clear that, given the small sample size, results should be interpreted as encouraging early-stage findings rather than generalisable conclusions, pending a planned re-run with future cohorts.