CHCS - Perspectives Winter/Spring 2016

COLLEGE OF HEALTH CARE SCIENCES • 39 develop a learning experience that addressed both of these components. Students from both programs took part in a simulation experience that focused on an acutely ill patient who experienced adverse reactions during his care. The nursing program’s high-fidelity human simulator and hospital room setup was the setting for the experience, which included interpretation of the patient’s physiologi- cal symptoms, use of teaching strategies for patient education, and therapeutic communication between all parties. Students were able to make clinical decisions concerning the best course to take in responding to adverse reactions of the patient and whether to continue in the plan of care based on patient status change. During the experience, groups of nursing and physical therapy students rotated through a simulated-patient room to provide care to the patient, with group interac- tion progressing over the course of two days. Each group experienced an adverse reaction during its care, which required both professions to work together for the best outcome. Students who were not directly involved in the simulation observed the patient/clinician interaction from another room, documenting positive aspects and areas for improvement. After all groups had been through the experience, a collaborative debriefing session guided by faculty members was conducted for PT and nursing students to provide feedback to their peers. Student comments reflected on how much they appreciated the opportunity to work with other professionals and viewed it as an important skill to develop. “The best part, in my opinion, was getting to work alongside the nursing students. That’s something that is extremely hard to conceptualize until you’re in the situation,” said one D.P.T. student. “These are things you can’t really teach in the classroom, and definitely something you need to be around quite a bit in order to know your place and what’s expected of you.” “It was good being able to see another section of the health care sector and what it can provide,” stated a nursing student. “Everyone worked together. Nursing took the vitals, PT came in and did its part, and then we combined to come up with the best solution for the patient’s problem.” Other student comments reflected the benefit of being able to watch others perform and to self-assess their own performance. “Personally, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and found it to be extremely beneficial in multiple ways. First of all, the fact that we were able to watch the video and critique ourselves was particularly useful,” said a PT student. “I’m glad we were able to interact with the nursing students, because it was a good taste of what we’ll experience in the near future as therapists our- selves. I thought the way it was structured provided each group with an opportunity to evaluate each other in a constructive manner.” The simulation experience provided valuable exposure for students in nursing and PT to gain an increased awareness of each other’s roles, while encouraging an atmosphere of trust building and camaraderie. Nursing and PT faculty members also had the opportunity to foster interprofessional education through extensive collaboration in developing the scenarios used for the simulation experience. ■ Judy Mann, D.P.T., PT, OCS, adjunct professor, left, and Dixie Pennington, B.S.E., director of simulation and interactive technology, operate the mannequin from an adjacent room.