Interdisciplinary Learning and Collaboration with Technology

All health care disciplines work to accomplish the same goal which is patients’ health care. These disciplines must collaborate and share decision-making, and work together in designing patient’s health care. Collaboration between professions starts with interdisciplinary education and it is the way to provide a holistic health care. Nursing students must learn and practice effective communication methods, respect other health care disciplines, and cooperate with other disciplines in problem-solving and critical thinking.

The Interdisciplinary Nursing Quality Research Initiative is a program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to support scholars from nursing and other disciplines to address gaps in knowledge about the relationship between nursing and health care quality. Bridging this gap will improve patient care and outcomes. 

Today, in the age of technology, health care professions have to be prepared to use technology to create effective, collaborate health care environment. Using technology in interdisciplinary education ensure the graduation of students who are "information literate" and able to use technology properly to share the decision in providing safe care. Also, using technologies, such as high fidelity patient simulation HFPS, in clinical teaching will improve the students’ problem solving and critical thinking skills. Also, technology will help students to gain a broader perspective of collaboration with other health care disciplines. In HFPS, the use of realistic situations, where nurses are communicating effectively and cooperating with other health care professions to provide care for the simulation mannequin, is developing the students’ psychomotor and affective skills which prepare them to provide a high quality of care that improves patient’s satisfaction, increases patient’s safety, and enhances patient’s outcomes. When health care professions learn how to collaborate to create a safe environment that will reduce medical errors, and impact staff engagement and satisfaction.

Here is a video about the experience of interdisciplinary simulation for nursing students and radiology students in Carolina Simulation Center:

Another example of interdisciplinary simulation centers is NorQuest Interdisciplinary Simulation Centre (NISC). NISC supports the integration of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and clinical judgment with experiential and reflective learning in an interdisciplinary, safe culture. In the NISC’s website there are scenarios and cases that can be used in HFPS. For practical nurses, they provide different scenarios in Acute Care Practice and Continuing Care Practice.