Abstract

The World Health Organization recommends interprofessional training for health care students to create a collaborative practice-ready workforce. Yet students in health profession programs remain educated in silos, and communication problems among health care personnel have been implicated as a cause of most patient errors by the American Association of Critical Care Nurses, Institute of Medicine, and Joint Commission. These organizations recommend that health care professionals receive training in educational programs that develop effective interdisciplinary communication skills. The purpose of this mixed methods pilot study was to assess student learning from a newly implemented interprofessional simulation scenario that addressed identification and management of patients with swallowing difficulties. The authors recruited 45 nursing and speech- language pathology students. Two instruments were used to measure quantitative outcomes including the Simulation Design Scale and the Student Satisfaction and Self Confidence in Learning questionnaire. The results were statistically significant for both surveys. Qualitative data were obtained during simulation debriefing sessions, and were coded and analyzed. Two emergent themes indicated that IPE simulation experiences are valued by students from both disciplines. The authors recommend incorporating IPE simulation in the curriculum for health care educational programs.