Recognizing opioid addiction and overdose: An interprofessional simulation for medical, nursing and pharmacy students

Abstract Health science students need to be prepared to recognize and treat opioid overdose. A high-fidelity opioid overdose simulation was created to assess use of team-based communication strategies and competence in behaviors of interprofessional health science students (medical, nursing and pharmacy). Measureable outcomes were 1) frequency and quality of team-based behaviors through video analysis and 2) care delays and patient harm experienced by the simulated patient through a checklist tool. A total of 67 health care students in sixteen teams participated in the scenario. Of the sixteen teams, 75% (n = 12) administered naloxone correctly. Students excelled in the communication and situational awareness domains, but were less successful with skills in the cooperation and coordination domains. The scenario provides a unique educational opportunity for students to collaborate within an interprofessional team to provide care for a patient experiencing an opioid overdose.