Interprofessional education in advanced life support training for medical and nursing students

Abstract

Purpose

Interprofessional education (IPE) has emerged as a critical component in healthcare education, especially in the context of advanced life support (ALS) training. IPE has been demonstrated to improve student’s learning experiences and perceived levels of confidence in ALS management. We aimed to investigate how IPE affects undergraduate medical and nursing students’ perceptions of their non-technical skills in ALS simulations.

Methodology

Medical (44, Joint Medical Program, Universities of Newcastle, and New England) and nursing students (26, Central Coast Nursing Program) attended across the four course days at Central Coast Clinical School, Gosford Hospital. Pre- and post-workshop questionnaires were completed. The course consisted of four skills stations focusing on communication within different aspects of ALS management, and three simulation stations.

Findings

Of the participants, 49% reported insufficient coverage of non-technical skills in previous course content. There was increased comfort using graded assertiveness from before (81%) to after (96%) the course. Almost all participants (97%) reported a ‘reasonable’ or ‘good’ level of understanding of communication styles and tools post-course. A vast majority of participants recommended this course structure for future students and 91% reported increased communication, leadership and teamwork skills post-course.

Research implications

This study contributes to a building body of evidence that IPE improves students’ non-technical skills and preparedness for professional work.

Practical implications

This study indicates that IPE should be included into current Australian university curricula. This model of education can be implemented easily across multiple settings.

Originality/value

This study was based on preliminary work at Gosford Hospital but had an original study design.

Limitations

Two key limitations were that there was no control group to compare to and there was an over-representation of medical students compared to the number of nursing students.