Interprofessional Error Disclosure Training for Medical, Nursing, Pharmacy, Dental, and Physician Assistant Students

Errors that harm patients often have many contributing factors and ideally should be disclosed by a team rather than an individual provider. However, most health professions students learn about errors and error disclosure in a single-profession class.

We developed a 2-hour small-group session in which our students practice discussing and disclosing a medical error that involves several professions, following a communication map. As they practice, students gain an understanding of the roles, skills, and perspectives of the other professions represented in the group.

Over the last 5 years, student evaluations have been very positive. In 2016, our students strongly agreed that "The small group skills practice was a useful and interesting learning opportunity," "Learning with other professional students was valuable," and "Thinking about error disclosure from a team perspective was helpful." Student comments consistently indicated that they learned both about disclosing medical errors as well as other professionals' roles and perspectives.

This activity has met both of our major goals. The first was to bring health professions students together to learn with, from, and about each other. The second was to practice a critical and challenging communication skill. This activity has been successfully implemented at other institutions, and can be adapted to fit other groups of students.