Quality Olympics: Experiential Interprofessional Learning to Improve Quality and Safety

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Effective communication and teamwork are crucial for patient care quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness.
• Quality Olympics is an educational intervention designed for interprofessional learning.
• It aims to equip nursing and medical students with knowledge on safety, quality, and cost in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of the Quality Olympics intervention on student perceptions of teamwork.
• To compare the effects of the intervention on nursing and medical students.
• To identify areas for improvement in interprofessional education.

Main Methods:

• Nursing (N=220) and medical students (N=163) participated in the Quality Olympics program.
• Student perceptions of teamwork were assessed using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R) survey.
• Data were analyzed to determine significant changes in perceptions over two years.

Main Results:

• Nursing students reported significant improvements in teamwork perceptions across all survey items in both years.
• Medical students' perceptions of teamwork reached statistical significance on four items in the second year.
• A notable difference in the extent of improvement was observed between the two student groups.

Conclusions:

• The findings suggest that interprofessional collaboration training benefits both nursing and medical students.
• Early and continued opportunities to link patient safety with interprofessional practice are recommended.
• Enhancing these educational experiences can foster future healthcare providers equipped to transform healthcare systems.