A Qualitative Analysis of Lessons Learned and Application to Professional Practice among Graduate Students Participating in an Interprofessional Education Simulation
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Throughout many years of examination and evidential research of the practice of healthcare workers and their effect on patient health outcomes, it has been determined that Interprofessional Education is effective and necessary for enhancing positive health outcomes. This claim is widely recognized by well-known health institution such as the World Health Organization. The purpose of this study is to examine the common takeaways that students felt they could carry on into their professions. This research project uses a qualitative, cross-sectional design used to identify common themes learned by students participating in the university-wide emergency simulation. 144 students participated in the simulation, 16 students from Athletic Training, 23 students from Speech Language pathology, 41 students from Graduate Nursing, 18 students from Public Health, 30 Physician Assistants, and 16 students from Behavioral and Social Sciences. Participants were randomly assigned to work together through the simulation. Students were given a disaster scenario to work through in randomized groups at designated session times to participate in the one-day simulation assignment. After students completed this simulation, they were asked to complete an anonymous short- answer survey to reflect on this experience to evaluate student learning, level of enjoyment, and how they would use what they have learned in their professional practice. The analysis is descriptive using frequencies of common themes identified among respondents. Six common themes were identified are teamwork/ collaboration, preparedness for emergencies, understanding other disciplines, skill application, communication, and remaining calm and focused in the event of an emergency. Lastly, a crosstabulation analysis was also used to categorize the data and, different themes were found across the various professions.