Exploring Interprofessional Education Among Nursing and Chemical Dependency/Addiction Studies Through Simulation

The opioid epidemic has become a public health crisis and as the need for comprehensive prevention, identification, and treatment grows, it is imperative that nurses and other professionals are well equipped to work collaboratively to provide high quality care. Interprofessional education (IPE), which involves joint learning by practitioners or students of more than one profession, was the conceptual framework used for this project. Available evidence suggests that structured IPE could equip learners with the tools and skills necessary to participate in collaborative practice (Hallin, Kiessling, Waldner, & Henriksson, 2009, Mcpherson, Headrick, & Moss, 2001). Students participated in a socialization exercise, in which they explored their perceptions and understanding of each other’s roles. Students then participated in a simulation where groups of Nursing and Chemical Dependency/Addiction Studies (CDAS) students interviewed standardized clients with an opioid addiction after which students generated a collaborative treatment plan. The open-source Interprofessional Socialization and Valuing Scale-21 (ISVS-21) was used to collect data pre and post simulation. Mean increase in scores following the simulation ranged from 0.62-1.88 indicating students found the simulation increased their interprofessional collaboration. Financial support for this project was provided by the Anne and Bob De Stefano research program