Simulations using telehealth to collaborate with other health-care professionals: effect on pre-licensure nursing students' competencies and amount of collaboration in the clinical setting.

Nursing students must gain experience collaborating with other members of the health-care team. Simulation can provide intra- and interprofessional collaboration experience; however, there can be barriers such as scheduling difficulties. We evaluated multi-patient, standardized patient simulations using telehealth as a strategy to provide baccalaureate nursing students with opportunities to learn and practice intra- and interprofessional collaboration. Forty-four final-semester nursing students participated. Student groups rotated to the simulation laboratory over 12 weeks to participate in two simulations that used telehealth to enable them to communicate patient concerns to other clinicians: a nurse practitioner, respiratory therapists, and social workers. Self-reported collaborative competencies and amount of collaboration in the clinical setting were measured at the start and end of the semester. Satisfaction and self-confidence were measured immediately after each simulation. For collaborative competencies, there was a statistically significant improvement in all item, subscale, and overall scale mean scores. Amount of clinical collaboration significantly improved, with the amount who indicated they never reported a patient concern to another professional decreasing from 39.5% to 6.8%. Findings also revealed a high level of student satisfaction and self-confidence following the simulations. Using telehealth to collaborate during simulations is a promising strategy to prepare nursing students for practice by improving collaborative competencies and encouraging more collaboration in the clinical setting.

Baccalaureate nursing students' experiences with multi-patient, standardized patient simulations using telehealth to collaborate.

BACKGROUND: Nurse faculty must utilize teaching strategies that promote student achievement of essential competencies, and simulation can provide experiential learning to help prepare students for professional practice. PURPOSE: The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore baccalaureate nursing students' experiences with multi-patient, standardized patient simulations that used telehealth to provide opportunities to learn and practice intra- and interprofessional collaboration. Student perceptions of their ability to utilize lessons from the simulations in clinical practice were also examined. METHODS: Focus group interviews were conducted with 27 final-semester baccalaureate nursing students after they had participated in two telehealth-enhanced simulations. RESULTS: Analysis revealed five themes: Anxiety due to lack of experience, Improved clinical reasoning, Real world practice, How to communicate effectively, and Application to clinical practice. CONCLUSION: The use of telehealth helped overcome barriers to implementing collaborative simulations and provided students with experiential learning that addressed essential competencies for safe and effective professional nursing practice.