Promoting safer opioid practices and professional collaboration through interprofessional simulation

Simulation-enhanced interprofessional education is widely viewed as an effective teaching pedagogy to foster effective communication and teamwork for healthcare students. Pharmacists and registered nurses must learn to work collaboratively during their educational programs in order to be prepared for the complexities of modern healthcare. This study evaluated prelicensure pharmacy and prelicensure nursing students' perceptions of professional collaboration before and after caring for a standardized patient exhibiting opioid dependence secondary to inappropriate use of an opioid analgesic. Statistically significant gains in communication, collaboration, roles and responsibilities, patient-centered care, conflict management, and team functioning were measured for both pharmacy and nursing students after the interprofessional simulation. This study adds to the existing evidence that suggests simulation-enhanced interprofessional education is an effective teaching strategy; however, this study demonstrates its usefulness for students learning about safer opioid analgesic practices.