Interprofessional teaching project with nursing and physical therapy students to promote caregiver and patient safety

Nurse educators must adjust curricula to meet the dynamic and critical changes in the health care environment, and to recognize the risk of injury our educational approach has on safety, team effectiveness, and culture change. Interprofessional collaboration and simulation are key components in the preparation of our students. Utilizing the interprofessional alliance model, an experience to promote collaborative relationships among nursing and physical therapy (PT) students to improve patient and caregiver safety was developed. Through this model, PT students taught safe patient-handling skills in a simulated setting to undergraduate nursing students. The majority of nursing students (N=351) from 2009–2014 strongly agreed or agreed that they were confident in the skills taught by the PT students and provided an overall course rating of outstanding or above average. This educational model, which includes simulation and safe patient handling, was a valuable addition to the curriculum, reinforcing the significance of developing collaborative relationships.