Online simulation-based education in graduate education: Initial implementation and content revision description

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Mental Health Services
• Telehealth

Background:

• Effective mental illness treatment necessitates interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and accessible care, which are often lacking in healthcare settings.
• Early exposure to interprofessional education (IPE) strengthens IPC, while telebehavioral health (TBH) training enhances care accessibility.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for integrated and accessible mental health care solutions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the implementation and evaluation of an interprofessional, simulation-based educational activity in psychopharmacology.
• To assess the impact of telebehavioral health (TBH) training on graduate students' preparedness for interprofessional collaboration (IPC).
• To enhance the quality of future mental health care delivery through integrated IPE and TBH training.

Main Methods:

• An interprofessional, simulation-based educational activity in psychopharmacology was designed for graduate nursing and psychology students.
• The activity incorporated telebehavioral health (TBH) approaches to mimic real-world care delivery.
• Continuous quality improvement methods, including the plan-do-study-act cycle and INACSL standards, were used for implementation and refinement.

Main Results:

• The study details the authors' experience in implementing and evaluating the educational activity.
• The integration of IPE and TBH approaches was utilized to strengthen IPC among future healthcare providers.
• The quality improvement process facilitated the refinement of the educational intervention.

Conclusions:

• Educational activities combining IPE and TBH are crucial for preparing health graduate students.
• This approach enhances interprofessional collaboration (IPC) and promotes accessible mental health care.
• Simulation-based training in psychopharmacology using TBH equips students with essential skills for contemporary healthcare challenges.