Development of Interprofessional Education Curriculum
Students in health profession programs are traditionally educated in silos. Upon graduation, they are expected to function as part of a health care team, collaborating with professionals from other disciplines to care for patients from admission to discharge. It is hard to imagine a winning team composed of individuals with complementary and essential skills who have not practiced working together. Communication problems among health care personnel have been implicated as a cause of most patient errors by the Institute of Medicine, and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). Further, Joint Commission reported that breakdowns in communication were the leading cause of sentinel events between 1995 and 2006. To resolve this situation, the Joint Commission has issued National Patient Safety Goals to improve the effectiveness of communication among healthcare professionals and recommends creating a culture that encourages interprofessional education. The AACN also recommends that team members receive training in educational and/or professional development programs that develop critical communication skills.
Purpose
The purpose of this mixed methods study was to prepare Nursing students and Speech Language Pathology (SLP) students to become part of the interprofessional (IP) collaborative-ready health workforce. This was accomplished through creating interprofessional education (IPE) simulation curriculum that promotes the development of IP healthcare team communication, and enhances patient safety.
Sample
Purposeful sampling was used to recruit participants. First semester nursing students and third semester graduate SLP students enrolled in California State University, Sacramento were invited via email to participate in the study. A total of 45 invitees agreed to participant, 29 nursing and 16 SLP. The majority of participants were females (80%) with only 20% males.
Methods
Quantitative data were collected using Likert scale surveys to evaluate students’ experience at the end of the IPE Simulation. Qualitative data were collected using reflective questions on the students’ experience during the simulation debriefing sessions. The debriefing sessions were videotaped, transcribed, and analyzed in search for emerging common themes. The internal consistency of each of the instruments was determined using Cronbach’s alpha with the following results: Simulation Design Scale (SD), SD (α = .911); Student Satisfaction and Self Confidence in Learning (SSSC) instrument, SSSC
(α = .841).
Results
Simulation Design (SD): Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient was employed to determine the relationships between the simulation design and the degree of importance for the students. SD Correlation was significant at the 0.01 level. Student Satisfaction/ Self Confidence (SSSD): Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient was employed to determine the relationships between the students’ satisfaction with simulation and their self confidence in obtaining the instructions they needed. SSSD Correlation was significant at the 0.01 level. Two themes emerged from analyzing participants’ qualitative comments: Theme I: Valuing the Simulation learning experience; Theme II: Importance of Interprofessional communication and team work.
Implications
There is a pressing need to prepare Nursing and SLP students with interprofessional communication skills to work effectively in a collaborative health workforce.