Improving Collaboration among Social Work and Nursing Students through Interprofessional Simulation

Abstract

This project implemented first-time simulation with nursing and social work students. Students participated in a contextual learning experience through a patient simulation of interprofessional practice as a health care team member and reflection through debriefing and open response comments. Simulation offers a means to practice interprofessional collaboration prior to entering practice. Participants reported an increased understanding of the scope of practice of other team members through their reflections following simulation. In addition, participants reported increased comprehension of team dynamics and their relationship to improved patient care. Overall, the simulation encouraged development of the skills necessary to function as part of a collaborative, interprofessional team.

Simulation in Social Work Education: A Scoping Review

“…In three (6%) of these studies, authors stated that elements of culture and diversity were incorporated in curricula or courses that students completed before the simulation session (Manning et al, 2016; Robinson, Thiel, Shirkey, Zurakowski, & Meyer, 2016; Sampson et al, 2018). In 10 articles (19%) of 20 addressing culture and diversity, the authors described that elements of culture and diversity were intentionally taken into consideration when developing the client vignette scenarios (e.g., Baez, 2005; Kuehn et al, 2017; Rogers & Welch, 2009). Two of the studies (4%) had a case scenario that was directly linked to culture and diversity.…”

“…Of the 29 studies that examined using simulation for social work teaching, 6 studies (12%) focused on teaching generalist competencies and 23 (44%) on specialized competencies. Specialized competencies included mental health assessment (Badger & MacNeil, 2002), advanced care planning in health care (Bond et al, 2017), intimate partner violence (Forgey, Badger, Gilbert, & Hansen, 2013), child abuse (Wilcox, Miller-Cribbs, Kientz, Carlson, & DeShea, 2017), conflict resolution (Schreiber & Minarik, 2018), MI (Greeno et al, 2016; Iachini et al, 2018; Pecukonis et al, 2016), substance use (e.g., Baez, 2005; Osborne et al, 2016), social work practice with families (Mooradian, 2007, 2008), alcohol withdrawal (Gates & Brown, 2017), interprofessional core competencies in health care (Costello et al, 2017; Kuehn et al, 2017; Murphy & Nimmagadda, 2015), bad news delivery in health care (Pastor, Cunningham, White, & Kolomer, 2016), spiritual care in a pediatric setting (Robinson et al, 2016), and interprofessional communication of death (Galbraith et al, 2014; Youngblood et al, 2012). One study (2%) examined interprofessional core competencies, as well as competencies that were discipline specific in nursing and social work (Manning et al, 2016).…”

“…Most of the studies using simulation for teaching integrated postsimulation reflections in oral or written formats. Oral reflections were also referred to as debriefing in some studies (e.g., Pecukonis et al, 2016) and often took place immediately after the simulation with a duration that ranged from 10 to 40 min (e.g., Bond et al, 2017; Kuehn et al, 2017; Carter et al, 2018). For written reflections, some studies required students to complete a reflection questionnaire immediately after the simulation (e.g., Manning et al, 2016), while others used the reflection papers as a graded assignment (e.g., Dennison, 2011; Gates & Brown, 2017; Schreiber & Minarik, 2018).…”

“…Preparing students is a fundamental part of effective simulation-based learning. Most studies described various methods of preparing students for this experiential learning opportunity such as identifying learning goals with students (Gellis & Kim, 2017), reviewing interviewing techniques with the students ahead of the simulation (Greeno et al, 2016), viewing a webinar and receiving training specific to the simulation content (Sampson et al, 2018), and receiving written objectives for the simulation (Kuehn et al, 2017). Studies that used simulation for teaching described providing students with information about the case scenario and presenting concerns for the simulated client in advance (e.g., Galbraith et al, 2014; Mooradian, 2008).…”

“…Engaging in simulated client interviews can teach students about procedural competencies, such as knowledge and skills, and meta-competencies, such as self-awareness, emotion regulation, and decision-making (Bogo et al, 2013, 2014; Kourgiantakis, Bogo, & Sewell, 2019). Studies have found that simulation is an effective method for teaching generalist competencies in social work practice (Katz, Tufford, Bogo, & Regehr, 2014; Kourgiantakis, Bogo, & Sewell, 2019; Kourgiantakis, Sewell, Bogo, 2019), as well as specialized competencies across sectors such as child welfare (Pecukonis et al, 2016), mental health (Gellis & Kim, 2017; Kourgiantakis, Sewell, Bogo, 2019), health care (Kuehn, Huehn, & Smalling, 2017), domestic violence (MacDonnell, George, Nimmagadda, Brown, & Gremel, 2016), addictions (Sacco et al, 2017), and family therapy (Mooradian, 2007).…”