Teaching Collaboration Competencies to Healthcare Provider Students Through Simulation

Although interprofessional collaboration has been proven to reduce the number of errors, few programs have incorporated interprofessional training into their programs. The purpose of this study was to determine if attitudes and observed collaborative behaviors among an interprofessional group of students improved or increased following an intervention that included a didactic session on the process of collaboration, a low-fidelity simulation of interprofessional patient care rounds, and facilitated debriefing sessions.

In this mixed-methods study, two scales from the TeamSTEPPS™ Teamwork Attitudes Questionnaire (TAQ) were used as a pre- and post-test to assess attitude and behavior changes in students. Qualitative data were also collected via semi-structured interviewing and observation.

Students (n=515) from eight professional healthcare programs participated in the study. Statistical significance (p<0.001) was reached in 10 of the 12 TAQ questions, indicating that attitudes towards teamwork and collaboration improved substantially. All observed collaborative behaviors increased between 3 to 18% pre- to posttest. Students reported that the intervention taught them about other provider roles and gave them the language they needed to collaborate.

Low-fidelity scripted simulation of patient care rounds is a cost-effective and time-efficient method to teach interprofessional collaboration simultaneously to large groups of students in diverse healthcare professional programs.