Interprofessional simulated learning: short-term associations between simulation and interprofessional collaboration.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Medical Simulation
• Teamwork in Healthcare

Background:

• Simulation is used in health professions education for skills training and interprofessional learning.
• Simulation environments facilitate exploring collaborative communication in clinical care.
• Impacts of teamwork simulation on interprofessional perceptions and attitudes are not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the association between simulated team practice and interprofessional collaboration.
• To evaluate the impact on nurse-physician relationships and attitudes toward health care teams.
• To explore how teamwork simulation affects perceptions of interprofessional practices.

Main Methods:

• A single-arm intervention study involving 154 post-licensure nurses, allied health professionals, and physicians.
• Self- and proxy-report surveys were administered before, and two and six weeks after, simulation training.
• Multilevel modeling was used to analyze changes in collaboration, relationships, and attitudes.

Main Results:

• Little overall change in interprofessional collaboration and attitudes was observed over the study period.
• Variation in collaboration and attitudes was primarily due to individual differences (between-person characteristics).
• Participants with extreme 'leadership capacity' scores favored shared team leadership over physician centrality.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional simulation education focused on shared leadership may be most effective for improving teamwork.
• Shared leadership appears to be a key factor in enhancing interprofessional collaboration.
• Simulation design should consider emphasizing shared leadership principles to maximize benefits.