Nurses and Physicians Learning Together

Nurses and physicians work together on a daily basis, but how much time do they spend learning together before they actually practice together? College of Nursing faculty member Kristen Haase, alongside team members Drs. Trustin Domes (College of Medicine) and Noelle Rohatinsky (College of Nursing), are creating opportunities for medical and nursing undergraduate students to learn together during simulated clinical activities.

“Although the College’s of Nursing and Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan have made interprofessional education a key priority for practice, research and education, I noticed there were few opportunities for nursing students and medical students to actually learn together in simulated environments,” said Haase. “Our project marks an important step towards engaging nursing and medical students in a clinical simulation learning activity.”

Haase and her team piloted two post-operative surgical simulations with a small group of medical and surgical undergraduate students. “This opportunity gives students an opportunity to work together in a scenario that simulates real-life clinical practice. We’re hoping to use our observations during the experience and the feedback we receive from the students to evaluate the pilot project, make any necessary changes and ultimately attempt to implement this approach into the broader medical and nursing curriculums at the University of Saskatchewan. As healthcare professionals, our ability to provide excellent patient care is about working collaboratively with our professional partners. We feel that having an understanding of each other’s roles prior to entering practice is an essential part of providing patient-centered care.”

This project is estimated to take place over a time period of two years and has received funding from University of Saskatchewan Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) cluster funding.