A Comparison of Nursing and Pharmacy Students' Perceptions of an Acute Care Simulation

Patient outcomes are improved when healthcare professionals work collaboratively. In order for future professionals to have these entry-level skills, students from different disciplines must work together in scenarios simulating patient care. This paper provides an overview of a large-scale, acute care simulation involving students of different disciplines, including nursing and pharmacy. A survey using the validated Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education Revised (SPICE-R2) tool was administered to students participating in the simulation prior to and within 1 week of the simulation. There were between-group statistically significant differences on two items on the pre-simulation survey and two items on the post-simulation survey. Student participants reported more positive perceptions after the simulation on every item except for "During their education, health professional students should be involved in teamwork with students from other health professions to understand their perspective roles". The authors concluded that an interprofessional acute care simulation allowed students in both professions to recognize the value of a team approach to patient care.