Measuring health care students' attitudes toward interprofessional learning, perceptions of effectiveness as an interprofessional team member, and competence in managing adult cardiac arrest.

Background And Purpose: Interprofessional education can be used to prepare healthcare graduates for teamwork. Simulations, when used with interprofessional education, create realistic clinical situations that promote teamwork. Faculty assessed changes in pharmacy and nursing students' competence in treating adult cardiac arrest and perceived readiness for interprofessional learning and teamwork.

Educational Activity And Setting: Eighty-three pharmacy students and 57 nursing students participated in a high fidelity simulation focused on adult cardiac arrest as an expectation of their respective courses. This study took place at a single campus College of Health Professions located at a public land grant institution.

Findings: The Readiness for Health Care Students for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS) and Team Skills Scale (TSS) were used to develop a survey administered prepost simulation. A paired t-test indicated statistically significant increases of mean values prepost (p < 0.001) for: teamwork and collaboration, professional identity, team skills, and competence. An independent sample t-test found no differences by gender or degree.

Discussion: This research supports using simulation in interprofessional education to increase competence and promote changes in attitudes toward interprofessional learning and teamwork.

Summary: An interprofessional simulation increased student's perceived competence and positively increased perceptions of learning and working with other health profession students.