Simulation in pharmacy education to enhance interprofessional education.

OBJECTIVE: Increased demands from healthcare services have led to new roles for healthcare professionals (HCPs). Simulation based learning (SBL) can offer multidisciplinary HCPs and students a format to train for such emerging roles. The aim of this work was to adapt existing nursing SBL to involve pharmacy students and evaluate perceptions and effectiveness of SBL when used for interprofessional education (IPE).

METHODS: Settings were a simulated hospital ward and a general practitioner (GP) practice. Participants were pharmacy and nursing students. Evaluation was by questionnaires and interviews. Ethical approval was obtained from the University Ethics Committee.

KEY FINDINGS: A total of 440 students participated. The majority of respondents (317/330;96%) found the sessions useful. All elements were highly rated: briefing (315/340;93%), setting (301/321;94%), scenario (325/338;96%), feedback (303/327;93%), interaction with the "patient" (328/338;97%), interactions with other HCP trainee (293/329;89%). The majority (304/327;93%) agreed that they felt the sessions had enhanced their skills. Significant (p ≤ 0.05) enhancement in communication confidence was perceived by the students. Students gained understanding of each other's roles, and appreciated practicing communication and teamwork.

CONCLUSIONS: Students recognised the importance, usefulness and need for IPE. SBL has the potential to support a variety of HCPs to facilitate uptake of new roles and working in multidisciplinary teams.