UPEI and Holland College host third joint interprofessional simulation
An interprofessional simulation involving UPEI nursing students and Holland College paramedicine students took place on November 18, 2024, at the UPEI Faculty of Nursing in the Health Sciences Building.
Sixty-five fourth-year Nursing 4010 Population Health students and 22 second-year Holland College Advanced Care Paramedicine students, as well as faculty and staff, came together to engage in interprofessional simulated learning with the goal of increasing understanding and awareness about the scope, roles, and responsibilities of each profession. This was the third year for the interprofessional simulation-based experience, which was designed to mimic an influenza vaccination clinic.
Each student worked in various roles required in an immunization clinic such as intake, vaccine administration, or post-vaccination recovery. The “patient” in their care experienced an adverse reaction to the vaccine, which led to an emergency situation. When the situation turned from stable to an emergency, the paramedicine students were called in. The patient had to be cared for in the most safe and effective manner. As the simulation advanced in complexity, nursing and paramedicine students had to recognize their scopes of practice, perform detailed assessments, and develop appropriate treatment plans. Through the simulation, students integrated their knowledge into practice and gained a better understanding of role clarification, team functioning, collaborative leadership, interprofessional communication, and conflict resolution.
Led by Kerie Murphy, simulation coordinator with the UPEI Faculty of Nursing, and Matt Stryde, learning manager at Holland College, the day was organized into three simulation time slots with four “clinics” running simultaneously during each slot as well as a debriefing session afterward for every group. Each clinic had a UPEI clinical nursing instructor and a Holland College paramedicine instructor, and actors played the patients instead of manikins as in previous years. This helped to create a more realistic setting.
The interprofessional simulation is an important part of the curriculum because the scopes of both nursing and paramedicine sometimes overlap. More opportunities for collaboration between the programs help to improve communication and collaboration in practice when the students graduate, resulting in better patient care and improved patient outcomes.
“We are continuing to grow our interprofessional experiences during simulation and are currently working on more experiences with members of health care to see where we can implement new experiences for collaboration for our students,” said Murphy. “I foresee a lot of growth in this area once we are able to move our simulation program in the new Clinical Learning Simulation Centre (CLSC) shared with the UPEI Faculty of Medicine.”
The students remarked that the simulation was a valuable experience overall, and they were grateful for the opportunity to learn how the two professions work best together. After the simulation was over, they felt more comfortable with their critical thinking skills, working within a health-care team, prioritizing interventions, and clinical decision making.
“This simulation provided students from both institutions with a novel interprofessional learning experience,” said Dr. Janet Loo, assistant professor, UPEI Faculty of Nursing. “The simulation was unique in that there were no similar community-based simulations in the literature. This led to an article published in the journal, Nurse Educator, detailing the operationalization of this type of interprofessional simulation.”
The article, Interprofessional Simulation for Nursing and Paramedicine Students
A subsequent podcast interview with the editor of the journal has also been published and can be found at Nurse Educator Tips for Teaching.
