Interprofessional training enhances collaboration between nursing and medical students: A pilot study

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Interprofessional Healthcare
• Geriatric Medicine

Background:

• Effective healthcare collaboration is vital for patient care quality.
• Interprofessional education (IPE) prepares students for clinical collaboration, especially in complex geriatric surgery.
• IPE is foundational for developing essential teamwork skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance interprofessional education between nursing and medical students.
• To develop and practice skills for interprofessional preoperative geriatric assessment.
• To prepare students for seamless integration into interdisciplinary clinic teams.

Main Methods:

• Modeled desired behaviors and skills for interprofessional geriatric assessment.
• Facilitated practice in nurse/physician pairs using standardized patients.
• Culminated in independent skill application in a clinical setting.

Main Results:

• Pilot project included nine nursing and six medical students.
• Significant improvement in geriatric assessment test scores post-intervention (p<0.001).
• Observational notes confirmed development of interprofessional skills like shared problem-solving and communication.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative learning in preoperative geriatric assessment enhances student preparedness.
• "Learning about, from, and with each other" fosters crucial interdisciplinary skills.
• This educational model better integrates students into future healthcare teams.