Promoting Competence in Nursing and Pharmacy Interprofessional Collaboration Through Telehealth Simulation.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education
• Interprofessional Collaboration
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Effective interprofessional collaboration is crucial for ensuring safe patient outcomes.
• Prelicensure healthcare education often lacks sufficient interprofessional learning experiences.
• Telehealth offers a scalable platform for delivering interprofessional education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of an interprofessional telehealth pharmacology simulation.
• To assess changes in prelicensure nursing and pharmacy students' perceptions of interprofessional roles.
• To measure perceived competency, autonomy, and cooperation following the simulation.

Main Methods:

• A pretest-posttest design was employed.
• Participants included prelicensure nursing and pharmacy students (n=99).
• The Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) was used for data collection.

Main Results:

• Statistically significant increases in overall IEPS scores were observed.
• Significant improvements were noted in the 'Competency and Autonomy' subscale.
• A significant increase was found in the 'Perception of Actual Cooperation' subscale.

Conclusions:

• Interprofessional telehealth simulations positively impact students' perceptions of collaboration.
• Regular interprofessional experiences are recommended for nursing and pharmacy education.
• Fostering interprofessional competence and communication is vital for future healthcare professionals.