Interprofessional Education: Using standardized patients and providers for primary care simulation

Interdisciplinary collaboration and interprofessional education (IPE) are essential for transforming healthcare.  Patients of today have complex and challenging needs that often require the input of many members of the healthcare team.  Students in primary care nurse practitioner (NP) programs may have limited exposure to interdisciplinary collaboration.  Numerous organizations, including the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Quality Forum (NQF), have stressed the need for IPE to provide better coordination of care in today’s complex healthcare system. Based on social learning theory, simulated clinical experiences provide safe and realistic environments in which students can practice interdisciplinary collaboration. While standardized patient experiences have been used extensively to facilitate IPE in the acute or inpatient setting, IPE in the primary care or outpatient setting is limited.  The School of Nursing and School of Pharmacy developed a formative standardized patient experience based on prior pilot work to give student NPs and student pharmacists the opportunity to synthesize two patient assessments, share patient problem-solving, and establish communication with one another and with other healthcare professionals.  The two disciplines were combined for the common clinical interest of geriatric primary care.  This simulation experience provided faculty and students with a better understanding of the role, scope of practice, and specific body of knowledge that each profession brings to the interdisciplinary team.  Two case scenarios depicted two different primary care settings that highlighted interprofessional communication using three modalities:  face to face, video conference, and telephone.  The preparation of faculty and the standardization of patients and providers allowed for an efficient and beneficial clinical learning experience.  Faculty-facilitated learning and debriefings promoted student critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, and effective communication skills.  Students provided positive and constructive feedback regarding the IPE experience in focus groups immediately following the simulation.  Integration of interprofessional education into existing curriculum will require intentional effort by faculty to overcome common barriers. This project provided valuable insight to better understand and develop interprofessional educational experiences and generated a growing interest in collaborating on future projects with faculty from other healthcare disciplines.