Interprofessional Simulation with Nursing and Medical Students: The Protagonists’ Experiences

Abstract

Introduction: The impact of the implementation and advancement of interprofessional education in health sciences has shown that, in articulation with different didactic strategies (such as standardized clinical simulation), collaborative learning and teamwork are optimized.

Objective: To understand the meanings that nursing and medical students gave to interprofessional education, developed through standardized clinical simulation.

Methods: An interpretive qualitative study was conducted, by means of an a priori determination based on criteria; 40 nursing and medical students were selected to participate in four cases within standardized clinical simulation, during the second semester of 2019. These interactions were recorded and focus groups were then held to delve into the students' experience of the simulated activity. Content analysis was applied to the videos and focus groups until new codes were found.

Results: Three main categories emerged: 1) identifying relational skills needed for care, 2) Learning how to collaborate through interprofessional education, and 3) implicit feelings within interprofessional simulation.

Conclusions: The experience and meaning that nursing and medical students gave to this interprofessional didactic resource helped them recognize thinking as a starting point for meaningful learning, as well as discover, in their partners, knowledge that could nurture their training process and impact them in the development of important interpersonal skills in practice and that they will apply in their professional future.