TeamSTEPPS Virtual Teams: Interactive Virtual Team Training and Practice for Health Professional Learners

Area of Science:

• Healthcare education
• Medical simulation
• Patient safety

Background:

• Communication failures contribute to medical errors in healthcare.
• Teamwork training, like TeamSTEPPS, enhances team performance and patient outcomes.
• Existing interprofessional education (IPE) often lacks accessibility for distributed and asynchronous learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a series of screen-based virtual simulation cases for interprofessional education.
• To prepare healthcare learners for safe and effective clinical team care.
• To provide a flexible and accessible IPE curriculum.

Main Methods:

• Developed eight interactive, screen-based virtual simulation cases for clinical team scenarios.
• Utilized virtual simulations for flexible, asynchronous learning.
• Tracked user access and learner progression through scenarios.

Main Results:

• 1,128 unique users accessed the virtual simulation scenarios in 2016.
• Learner selection of appropriate TeamSTEPPS tools increased as they progressed through the scenarios.
• Virtual simulations facilitated identification of knowledge and attitude gaps.

Conclusions:

• Screen-based virtual simulations are a viable, accessible method for interprofessional education.
• This approach effectively prepares learners for clinical team-based care and improves the application of teamwork tools.
• Virtual simulations support flexible learning and can enhance patient safety initiatives.