Use of a Standardized Patient Team Experience to Improve Student Interprofessional Collaboration and Teamwork

INTRODUCTION: Standardized patient (SP) simulations are an important component of interprofessional education, fostering collaboration among students. The standardized patient team experience (SPTE) was developed for medical, nursing, occupational therapy, pharmacy, and physical therapy students to simulate care planning for a patient poststroke. Admission or discharge scenarios of same case are used depending on professions participating, enhancing role-specific learning.

METHODS: Twelve SPTE sessions occurred over two academic years (August 2022-June 2024). Participants included students from each profession who had completed stroke management curriculum. Student teams developed interprofessional admission or discharge plans during 90-minute structured SP encounters. Facilitated debriefing emphasized communication, role delineation, and collaborative decision-making. Postsession surveys assessed students' attitudes toward interprofessional teams, perceived achievement of learning objectives, and satisfaction. Facilitator surveys assessed perceptions of their training's effectiveness and recommendations for improvements.

RESULTS: Surveys were collected from 905 participants and fully completed by 736 students. Responses indicated positive attitudes toward interprofessional collaboration. Overall, 91% of students reported satisfaction with the SPTE. Satisfaction varied by profession but not by case scenario. Facilitator survey respondents expressed confidence in leading SPTE sessions but recommended improvements to training, particularly in structured feedback delivery.

DISCUSSION: The SPTE fosters appreciation of interprofessional collaboration in patient care. While most students reported satisfaction, variability by profession suggests tailored experiences may optimize engagement. Future iterations will refine facilitator training and explore team composition's influence on student experience. We hope these detailed SPTE instructions enable other institutions to incorporate a similar activity in their programs.