Columbus Publishers

International Journal of Nursing and Health Care Science

Volume 01: Issue 14

Boyce PS, et al.

a case scenario for each session, or faculty were rescheduled to a different time-slot if a particular case scenario was preferred and not available at their originally selected time. At least one week prior to the session, faculty were contacted to provide student participant names and confirm the number of observers from their program. At that time, the evaluation observer, team coordinator and session facilitators were also confirmed, with detailed Zoom© instructions for students, including (Zoom Video Communications Inc., 2020) links and pre-session training materials to prepare for the scheduled sessions.

## Pilot Participation

Building on learning from IPE experiences documented in the literature, the sessions allowed up to two student participants from each program, with an unlimited number of student observers, if at least one student was participating from an individual program/course. The CUNY HHS Sim-IPE Pilot required a minimum of two and maximum of six disciplines per session. Keeping prior clinical experiences in mind, the Pilot instituted an initial requirement of at least one year of clinical experience for all student participants to provide similar learning experiences, with consideration for different levels of learners (undergraduate and graduate) at each session However, due to pandemic-related rapid reductions in clinical site availability across HHS disciplines, first semester CUNY HHS students were ultimately given opportunities to engage in the pilot, with almost all sessions including mixed learners. Reflective student feedback during faculty debriefing sessions revealed that these first semester students not only verbalized tremendous satisfaction in collaborating with other HHS disciplines but fully met IPEC core competencies that were otherwise not integrated into their curricula. In addition, students frequently commented on the value of learning with and from peers with varying levels of clinical and professional experience.

The initial response to the CUNY HHS Sim-IPE Pilot was remarkable (Figure 1). Two to six disciplines participated across sessions, with an average of three disciplines per session. Five to eleven student participants engaged in each session, with an average of seven students across disciplines per session. The number of student observers ranged from 2 to 40 students representing the disciplines participating in the session. In addition, student participant teams consisted of mixed learners, which included undergraduate and graduate program participants, and varied among students in early semesters of their program to professional students completing a Bachelor’s degree or graduate students with varying levels of experience. Eight HHS disciplines (human services, medicine, nursing, nutrition, PT, public health, SW and SLP) from 15 HHS programs across nine CUNY campuses participated in 28 two-hour virtual SIM-IPE sessions from September 28th through December 3rd, 2020. A total of 640 students engaged in the virtual IPE sessions: 187 scenario participants and 453 scenario observers, facilitated by 13 volunteer HHS faculty across disciplines.

### Figure 1:

Sim-IPE Preliminary Evaluation Data (Fall 2020) Participation in IPE Sessions (by Discipline).

## Support and Training