An interprofessional team simulation exercise about a complex geriatric patient

Interprofessional collaboration is an essential skill to optimize the care of older adults with complex problems. We successfully developed and evaluated an interprofessional teamwork simulation exercise for medical, nursing, pharmacy, and social work students. Pharmacy students participated via video conferencing. Before the simulation, students watched a teamwork video and reviewed the patient case. Following an icebreaker exercise, interdisciplinary faculty facilitated a discussion highlighting effective teamwork strategies. Students then collaborated to develop a discharge plan, followed by a simulated family meeting with a theater student. Interdisciplinary faculty again provided structured debriefing highlighting principles of effective teamwork. Students self-rated interprofessional practice core competencies were evaluated using a retrospective pre/post survey and analyzed using paired t-tests. We qualitatively examined the use of distance technology and assessed learner's satisfaction with the project. All core competency categories for all disciplines demonstrated significant improvements in mean scores. Students' qualitative comments demonstrated positive impact on learning interprofessional core competencies.