Improving Health Professions Students’ Understanding of Interprofessional Roles Through Participation in a Patient Stabilization Simulation

Abstract

<b>Objective.</b> To teach interprofessional communication and teamwork skills to health professions students through a standardized patient simulation on acute patient stabilization and measure the impact on learners’ perceptions of interprofessional collaboration. <b>Methods.</b> Medical and pharmacy students in their final year and post-licensure nurses in their initial six-month probationary period worked together to stabilize a simulated acutely ill standardized patient. Perceptions of IPE were assessed pre- and post-simulation using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised Instrument, version 2 (SPICE-R2). Medical student participants’ scores were compared to those of a concurrently enrolled cohort of medical students who did not participate in the simulation. <b>Results.</b> Eighty learners participated in the simulation and all completed pre and post SPICE-R2 assessments. Learners’ perceptions increased significantly in all domains, including understanding of roles in collaborative practice, interprofessional teamwork and team-based practice, and patient outcomes from collaborative practice. Compared to the control cohort, participants’ perceptions of team-based practice and the impact on patient outcomes improved significantly, while a statistically similar improvement in scores for understanding of roles and responsibilities was seen. The SPICE-R2 scores increased similarly among students in each profession. Repeat exposure to the simulation continued to improve perceptions but not as robustly as the initial simulation. <b>Conclusion.</b> This simulation changed learners’ perceptions of how interprofessional collaboration affects patient care, which supports the incorporation of standardized patient-based interprofessional education even in the late-stage education of health professionals.

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