Building Better patient outcomes through interprofessional collaboration: A standardized patient experience with pharmacy, nursing, and physician assistant students

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a simulation experience using high-alert medication (HAM) scenarios to provide learners the opportunity to develop teamwork and communication skills. Pharmacy, Nursing, and Physician Assistant students collaborated as an interdisciplinary team, with focused interactions on role understanding and responsibility, communication, and team collaboration. Quantitative results indicated that learners improved in comfort of communication and team collaboration, as well as enhanced their understanding of the other discipline's roles. Qualitative results gave further insight into the strengths of the activity as well as areas for improvement. The paper concludes with recommendations for future directions and application for similar exercises both in person and virtually for other institutions to utilize.