Can interprofessional simulation simulation improve handover and team working skills of final year medical and nursing students?

Melgies, J; Berragan, E

Abstract

Effective handover is an essential skill for both junior doctors and nurses to acquire. Communication errors can gravely affect patient safety – and within NHS the patient can be expected to be cared for by multiple healthcare teams, often on several different wards and departments. Within a single ‘patient journey’ ineffective handover can lead to loss of essential information, which may result in patient safety compromise. Therefore it is crucial that handover between the healthcare workers – whether inter- or intraprofessional – is flawless from day one of their practice. Whilst an increasing emphasis is put on teaching undergraduates intraprofessional handover skills, interprofessional training is insufficient for the needs of multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

Simulation training promotes communication, teamwork, delegation, priority setting, and leadership skills, so crucial for patient safety in everyday’s practice. Despite all the qualities of this type of training, the use of simulation is very limited in interprofessional learning, although advocated by a recent review of interprofessional simulation-based education research.

In this study previous experiences with simulation, interprofessional training and handover skills development are combined to provide participants with an unprecedented learning opportunity.


The aims of this study are to:
1) Use simulation as means to teach interprofessional handover skills
2) Evaluate whether simulation is an effective tool to improve the reliability of interprofessional handover
3) Improve students’ perceived confidence associated with the ability to communicate interprofessionally
4) Improve students’ attitudes to shared learning as a result of participation in the simulation
5) Improve student teamwork skills

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: ASME Annual Scientific Meeting
• Start Date: Jul 16, 2014
• End Date: Jul 18, 2014
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2014
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: interprofessional learning, simulation, medical and nursing students
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/820359
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : ASME Annual Scientific Meeting 2014