Nursing Student Develops Innovative Teaching Method to Combat Infant Mortality in India

Escape room project transforms global nursing education

A Belmont nursing student is helping transform health care education in India through an innovative approach to teaching life-saving skills: a medical escape room.  

Ellen Witter, a third-year doctorate student in Belmont's DNP program and Family Nurse Practitioner track, has developed this creative teaching method as part of a larger initiative to combat high infant mortality rates in South India. 

As part of a partnership between Belmont and Bangalore Baptist Hospital, Witter helped develop and implement a "Saving Lives at Birth" course for nursing students in Bangalore, India. Her specific contribution? Creating a medical escape room focused on teaching neonatal resuscitation skills — a creative approach that's showing promising results in helping nurses save infant lives. 

"Our goal with this project was to provide the training and education needed to help reduce infant mortality rates by equipping nurses with essential resuscitation skills they can use, ideally in a hospital setting,” said Witter.  

The course began with online modules, but Witter and the team recognized that students needed hands-on experience to fully grasp the critical skills needed for neonatal resuscitation. That's where the escape room concept came in. 

Unlike traditional escape rooms that most people are familiar with, this medical version combines clinical skills training with game-based learning. Students work in teams to move through a sequence of challenges, each requiring them to demonstrate proper neonatal resuscitation techniques to progress. 

"Escape rooms are really great. The evidence shows that they’ve created an atmosphere where students really feel like they’re safe," Witter said. "In an escape room, students feel like they're participating in a game, which is less intimidating than a traditional simulation. In a standard simulated environment, students can sometimes feel overwhelmed and freeze up, losing access to the knowledge they’ve learned." 

The results have been remarkable. Data shows that 77.5% of students completed the neonatal resuscitation steps with minimal assistance, and 95.8% of participants reported that the escape room experience helped them develop crucial team-based skills and collaborate positively with their peers. 

For Witter, the project has been personally fulfilling as well. “It’s been incredibly validating to see how much I enjoy this work,” she said. “I love global health, working with people from different cultures and having the chance to influence nursing education, especially on a global scale. Every new opportunity has been so rewarding.” 

The impact extends beyond the immediate project. What started in Bangalore is now gaining attention from other institutions. The team is working towards implementing similar programs in other locations, demonstrating how Belmont's innovative approach to nursing education is making waves globally. 

The success of this initiative also highlights Belmont's commitment to pushing boundaries in health care education. By supporting projects like Witter's, the University is helping to develop new teaching methodologies that could transform how future health care providers learn critical life-saving skills. 

“I hope this escape room model becomes a staple in health care training,” said Witter. “When education is both engaging and effective, it can make a real difference — not just for students, but for the communities they’ll go on to serve.”