Abstract
Simulation in nursing education has steadily increased since the late 1990s (Hayden et al, 2014). Educators use simulation literature to guide their pedalogical approaches while also adapting to the changing culture and shifting reality of the practice environments. While there is considerable research regarding the use of simulation in undergraduate nursing and health professions education, there is a paucity of literature with post-graduate nurse and paramedics specifically. (Hardenberg et al, 2019, McKenna et al, 2016 and Kelly and Fry, 2013).
The Humber College Paramedic Program admits approximately 65 students per year into a two year Paramedic Diploma. Students participate in simulation for all 4 semesters of the program. Their simulation activities scaffold from development of procedural skills on low fidelity task trainers to fulsome pre-hospital high-fidelity simulations. In third semester, paramedic students are assessed in high fidelity simulation environments using a global-rater-scale in an objectively structured clinical exam (OSCE).
The Humber College post-graduate nursing certificate program admits approximately 150 nurses per year to the 11-week Critical Care (ICU) and Emergency Nursing (ERN) certificate programs. Their simulation activities scaffold from development of ICU and ERN assessment skills on medium fidelity task trainers to summative assessment with high-fidelity simulations for management of the deteriorating cardiac, respiratory and septic patients.
Historically, simulation as an educational modality was a uniprofessional experience for both these programs. In October 2016, these two professional groups came together to follow the trauma patient’s care journey from roadside to the emergency department. Students were highly motivated to participate in our high fidelity simulation based interprofessional (IPE) trauma day. This IPE trauma day included interprofessional pre-briefing, video capture of the patient’s journey, video debriefing and post simulation participant interviews to create multimodal learning opportunities for the participants.
Our presentation will share our lessons learnt along with data from our participants from pre-post survey data, video interviews. Data analysis also revealed improved response times meeting international resuscitation guidelines. With 6 cohorts of participants n=160, trauma-based simulation provides the ideal platform for interprofessional communication, transfer of accountability, and expanded understanding of each other’s scope of practice in a safe learning environment.
