Improving interprofessional team simulation learning. One more step towards the humanization of health care in emergency situations

Abstract

Interprofessional education refers to the collaboration of students from different disciplines towards the resolution of a series of clinical situations. The general objective of this study was to analyze the perspective of the participants in interprofessional simulations (doctors and nurses) in emergency situations. Qualitative study with an inductive approach for the identification of categories derived from the opinions provided by the participants in interprofessional simulations was conducted (n = 58). Individual open-ended questions were provided through a self-completed qualitative questionnaire. The answers were subjected to a descriptive content analysis. Three emergent themes, 13 categories and 21 sub-categories were obtained. Emotions-related aspects, strengths, and areas to be improved were identified with respect to the interprofessional simulations. The participants highlighted the great closeness to reality, they felt comfortable and confident, and their positive emotions had a greater weight than the negative ones (uncomfortableness, frustration, and insecurity). The most prominent positive aspects were teamwork, the realism of the training, and the empowerment of the nurses. The areas that could be improved were those related to aspects associated with carrying out the simulations, the demand for joint planning, and the improvements in the development of the sessions by the facilitators (co-debriefers). This work demonstrates the good reception of the learning experience by the participants. Interprofessional simulations are great learning tools, although weaknesses were found that could be improved with adequate planning by the educators.