title: Qualitative evaluation of a standardized patient clinical simulation for nurse practitioner and pharmacy students.
abstract: This article describes a qualitative evaluation of an interprofessional educational experience for nurse practitioner and pharmacy students using standardized patients and physicians role-playing physicians in clinical scenarios. This experience included the development of two clinical scenarios; training of standardized patients, providers, and faculty facilitators; pre-briefing preparation; partial facilitator prompting simulations; and facilitated debriefings. Forty-six students participated in the formative simulation. Small groups of students and faculty facilitators worked through two clinical scenarios that were based on the expected emergence of the patient-centered medical homes. The scenarios incorporated different interprofessional communication modes, including in-person, telephonic, and video-conferencing. Time-in/time-out debriefings were incorporated to provide guidance to students about how to engage in interprofessional collaboration. After completion of the scenarios, facilitated group debriefings allowed for reflection on communication strategies and roles. Immediately following the learning activity, 30 volunteer focus group participants provided comments anonymously in a semi-structured format. Conventional content analysis was used to identify overarching themes. Participants expressed improved understanding of individual roles, increased confidence, and a better sense of interprofessional support. The educational experience themes included the benefits of a realistic nature of the simulation and the need for improved student orientation to roles and expectations prior to the clinical simulations.
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 20201, USA. Electronic address: lkoo@son.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Koo
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, 20 North Pine Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA. Electronic address: cwolf@rx.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Cherokee
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Layson-Wolf
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, 20 North Pine Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brandt
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 20201, USA.
authors.forename: Margaret
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hammersla
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 20201, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Idzik
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, 20 North Pine Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: P Tim
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Rocafort
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Pharmacy, 20 North Pine Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: Deanna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Medicine, 655 West Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
authors.forename: R Gentry
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Wilkerson
authors.affiliation: University of Maryland School of Nursing, 655 West Lombard Street, Baltimore, MD 20201, USA. Electronic address: bwindemuth@son.umaryland.edu.
authors.forename: Brenda
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Windemuth
mesh_terms: D004511:Education, Nursing, Graduate; D004514:Education, Pharmacy, Graduate; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000193:education*; D016544:Patient Simulation; D036301:Qualitative Research; D013339:Students, Pharmacy; D014481:United States
keywords: Graduate education; Graduate patient simulation; Interdisciplinary communication education; Nursing students; Pharmacy students