From a distance: Nursing and pharmacy students use teamwork and telehealth technology to provide interprofessional care in a simulation with telepresence robots

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the influence of a simulation training program focused on providing learners the opportunity to work interprofessionally and with telehealth technology. Pharmacy students and nursing students collaborated as an interprofessional team via a telepresence robot, video teleconferencing, and telephone. They focused interactions on role understanding, communication, and team collaboration. They also employed coaching skills to teach the patient how to interact with the robot during a health encounter. Quantitative results indicated that learners improved in communication and team collaboration and also in including patients in the health encounter. Qualitative results gave further insight into the strengths of the program as well as areas for improvement. The paper concludes with recommendations for future directions.