Challenges to Conducting Simulation-Based Interprofessional Education for Non-technical Skills

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) enables healthcare professionals to learn with, from, and about each other. By this definition, simulation-based training (SBT) is a particularly useful modality for conducting educational opportunities that are truly interprofessional as it can bring together healthcare professionals with diverse backgrounds and expertise within a single, interactive learning environment. Crucially, simulation can be used in training the non-technical teamwork competencies that are essential in high performing interprofessional teams. However, the development of well-designed SBT can be complex and challenging, even for the simplest simulation scenarios. Designing scenarios that tap critical teamwork skills for multiple learners from diverse professions is especially difficult. Therefore, in this chapter we highlight five challenges to designing and conducting simulation-based IPE for non-technical skills. These include (1) focusing simulation scenarios on team rather than task-based competencies, (2) meeting the needs of multiple learners, (3) anticipating learner responses to simulation events, (4) measuring non-technical teamwork skills, and (5) providing effective feedback to an interprofessional training audience. We also provide readers with recommendations for overcoming these challenges inherent to simulation-based IPE for non-technical skills.