Connecting anatomy and physiology concepts in an interdisciplinary high-fidelity patient simulation with undergraduate nursing and allied health students.

A gap exists between concepts considered to be essential undergraduate curriculum: those that are taught, and those learned through nursing and other health professions. This divide can be narrowed by creating a new learning space (10) where students can explore the health professions early through collaborative experiential learning and self-inquiry. Contextualizing basic sciences through application to clinical medicine has been an integration strategy implemented in medical curriculum as educators seek to optimize the transfer of basic science knowledge to the clinical realm (4, 6, 7). An integration strategy underutilized in basic science education is simulation-based experiences, despite its offering active, experiential student learning opportunities (12). Simulation’s growth potential across healthcare was envisioned by Gaba (5) through dimensions of simulation applications that included basic science education. Experiences using high-fidelity patient simulators can provide contextualization of fundamental basic science concepts, such as those learned in anatomy and physiology (A&P). The integration of patient simulation-based experiences in A&P supports the Interprofessional Education Collaborative Expert Panel (9) core competencies of expanding beyond profession-specific education to interprofessional education. Furthermore, patient simulation-based experiences in A&P create a collaborative, guided opportunity for purposeful learning among students pursuing various nursing and health profession degrees in a new interprofessional learning space. The purpose of this article is twofold: 1) to share qualitative data findings from a pilot study involving only undergraduate nursing students who participated in the simulation activity at a small, private college in the Midwest; and 2) to detail the curricular design of a simulation activity for undergraduate students in various allied health degree programs. The 90-min human patient simulation activity was part of a 200-level Human Anatomy and Physiology II laboratory course. At the time of the pilot study, the student population was composed only of undergraduate nursing majors; therefore, only undergraduate nursing student-participants’ learning experiences were documented in a postsimulation feedback and reflective essay assignment. The pilot study was approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Human Research Review Board (HRRB), and informed consent was obtained from all pilot study participants. After the pilot study ended, enrollment in the A&P II course shifted and began to include health science and radiography majors and college credit plus (CCP) students in subsequent semesters. Although the additional allied health majors and CCP students were not part of the pilot and were not in the IRB proposal, the simulation activity curriculum was modified to include these new students through an expansion of role assignments; however, no data were collected on these individuals. This was the initial introduction to simulation in an A&P course given to students at the college, as they were provided patient information on the human patient simulator (HPS) only in the A&P II course. The course consisted of laboratory activities and dissections with limited face-to-face lecture. All students were concurrently enrolled in the human anatomy and physiology II lecture course. The simulation activity was developed and facilitated by a nursing faculty member and biology faculty member at the college. The goals of this article were to 1) report pilot study findings on undergraduate nursing student-participants’ learning experiences, as documented in a postsimulation feedback and reflective essay assignment; and 2) determine the feasibility of integrating an interdisciplinary simulation activity into an A&P laboratory session.