The design and evaluation of an inter-professional education (IPE) intervention for pharmacy and nursing students using clinical scenarios

Background: Substantial evidence suggests that collaboration among health care professionals in the delivery of patient care is associated with fewer medication errors and increased quality of care (Greiner & Knebel, 2003; Zwarenstein, Goldman, & Reeves, 2009); this is especially important in the context of children’s health care, where prescribing is particularly problematic and associated with a higher degree of risk and potential harm (Conroy & Carroll, 2009, National Reporting and Learning Service 2009).

This paper describes the development and evaluation of an IPE workshop for pharmacy and nursing students focusing on patient safety in the context of administering medication to children with learning disabilities.

Methods: The workshop brought together 4th year pharmacy undergraduate students and 3rd year Child and Learning Disabilities (LD) nursing students. The learning outcomes for the session were to: Demonstrate the knowledge of, and ability to use, relevant sources of information on prescribing for children Identify common sources of errors in paediatric drug prescribing Describe and appreciate the importance of communication with other professionals, patients and parents regarding medication administration and treatment. The groups were tasked to discuss and answer questions about two clinical scenarios. A pre- post evaluation method was used to collect data. Data was thematically analysed.

Results: Students demonstrated a significant increase in knowledge and confidence in appropriate medication choice, counselling and antibiotic stewardship, indicated by a positive correlation in results from the MCQ pre- and post-workshop. Responses to the evaluation questionnaire indicated that students overwhelmingly agreed that participants worked well together and that the workshop aided their communication and teamwork skills. Most students professed a greater understanding of other healthcare professionals' contributions, and that working together leads to greater patient outcomes (100%).

Conclusion: Inter-professional learning increased students' confidence when working together to solve a problem, and helped improve communication skills. Acknowledged difficulties in organising IPE events were managed, with a positive response from student participants in all measured learning outcome