Interprofessional team training using simulation: A comparison of two different time deliveries

• Main Author: Brown, Diane K
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2016
• Subjects: Health care management; Health education; Nursing
• ISBN: 9781369635584; 1369635583

Teamwork and collaboration among healthcare professionals has been identified by the Institute of Medicine and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as a national priority that can be used to improve quality and safety in healthcare (AHRQ, 2000, IOM, 1999). Care that is delivered in collaborative teams has been associated with better patient outcomes including decreased medical error (Morey, et al., 2002), decrease ICU length of stay (Pronovost, Berenholtz, & Dorman, 2003), decreased complications (Sexton, 2006), and decreased adverse patient outcomes (Mann, et al., 2006). Educating the next generation of health care providers to function in collaborative teams is an important step in achieving the goal of lower medical error for patients in all settings. Team skills are not inherent but must be learned. Well-designed interprofessional team training can provide an effective way to educate healthcare students for the ultimate goal of providing patient centered care as part of interprofessional collaborative practice (IPCP). Best practices in team training have not been determined in the research, therefor this study was designed to address what is the best length of time for team training for developing teamwork attitudes and skills as part of overall teamwork competency. Two different team training time delivery models were provided to interprofessional teams of undergraduate nursing, medicine, and respiratory therapy students, culminating in an interprofessional simulation for 19 teams. One model was delivered over one immersive session of four hours, the other was delivered over several weeks. Results of team attitude and teamwork skills revealed some differences related to training models. Using a liberal level of significance of p < .10 to account for small sample size, immersive one day training was associated with higher team skills when compared to extended time delivery (p = .077, d = .09). Team attitude was equally positively effected by both models of team training from pre- to post-simulation measures (p = .001) with a moderate effect size ( partial η2 = .40). Multiple regression analysis to determine prediction of teamwork skills revealed background variables of team anxiety, and team feelings of preparation were statistically significant (p = 0.092), but baseline teamwork attitude was not a significant predictor of skills. A multiple regression to determine teamwork attitude predictors revealed pre-existing teamwork attitude to be the strongest (p < .001), with little contribution of team anxiety or or team feelings of preparation levels. Results can be used by healthcare educators to inform their decisions for use of time and other resources for training students for teamwork that contributes to interprofessional collaborative practice.