Collaboration Across Professions: Can an Interprofessional Exercise Support Role Development and Quality of Care Delivery by PNP and Pharmacy Students?
Background/Significance: Appropriate prescribing of medications and comprehensive education and counseling are essential to safe patient care. Medication errors complicate pediatric care practice and must be recognized as a risk. For hospitalized children alone, medication errors occur in 5.7-10.1% of cases (Kozer et al; Allegart et al) and adverse medication events complicate 10% of cases (Morris et al). In the outpatient setting, pediatric medication errors occur in at least 15% of patients, including both overdosing (8%) and underdosing (7%, McPhillips et al). A dedicated project was created to address learner development of skill with pharmaceutical management in pediatric patients.
Interprofessional training in proper assessment and management of pediatric populations should occur as a foundational skill for PNP and PharmD providers. Simulation-based training offers an important opportunity for skill building and has been shown to improve ability to interview, assess, counsel and communicate collaboratively (Westberg, et al, 2006).
Methods: This mixed methods approach utilized pre-post-survey data as well as exit survey feedback to determine the impact of a half-day simulated patient care experience on provider assessment, prescribing and counseling. Subjects were recruited from a convenience sample of advanced practice and pharmacy students, who all completed online pre-and-post surveys soliciting information on teamwork, role and communication. Following random assignment into mixed groups of three the learners conducted an assessment/interview and developed a collaborative plan for one of two pediatric-focused cases. Standardized patients portrayed patient subjects.
Findings: There was a significant improvement in teamwork, role and communication between pre-and-post, and both learner professions found the experience to be satisfying. The results supported ongoing development of this as an annual student exercise.