Columbus Publishers

International Journal of Nursing and Health Care Science

Volume 01: Issue 14

Boyce PS, et al.

percentage of nursing program participants in the Pilot, which was not surprising given the 50+ undergraduate and graduate nursing programs across 14 CUNY campuses. This resulted in an uneven participation of students and faculty across disciplines in many of the Pilot sessions, though each of the sessions represented at least two disciplines. Nevertheless, as mentioned earlier, eight HHS disciplines from 15 different programs across nine campuses successfully participated in the Pilot. Future steps for engaging more HHS programs and disciplines to promote more balanced participation of faculty and students include ongoing expansion of case scenarios to encompass a multitude of discipline-specific needs, extensive marketing which includes a new CUNY SIM-IPE website, and CUNY-wide informational sessions supported by CUNY Sim-IPE faculty representatives across campuses.

### Supportive Organizational Structures

The University Dean for Health and Human Services led the HHS-IPE Council involving an interdisciplinary group of faculty across CUNY campuses. In addition, a new Office of Interprofessional Education was established within the Office of the University Dean, with a newly-appointed Faculty Fellow who has been instrumental in the design and implementation of the initiative to date. A new IPE webpage with access to openly accessible resources were launched in summer 2021 to organize the effort, foster communication, share resources, and enhance engagement across HHS faculty, programs, disciplines, and campuses.

## Conclusion

The innovative pilot of a university-wide virtually simulated approach to IPE for CUNY’s HHS programs proved to be very successful during a time of great uncertainty with limited clinical training experiences for students in health and social service programs. The success of the Pilot was largely due to the contributions of a faculty-led effort designed to provide meaningful learning experiences and prepare CUNY graduates for collaborative practice. The 640 students participating in this effort were highly engaged and demonstrated keen insight on the value of these experiences prior to entry into practice. In all 28 pilot sessions, students expressed gratitude for the opportunity to engage in these experiences and identified the value of interacting with peers across programs, disciplines, and campuses to learn about various professional roles and to collaborate on a realistic plan of care. Students also highlighted the importance of the COVID-19 case scenarios, and the applicability of addressing the evolving clinical and care considerations for the quickly evolving disease.

Though some educators feel that engaging in an IPE session too early may not be beneficial [58], the CUNY HHS Sim-IPE Pilot mirrors experiences cited in the literature that IPE can enhance students’ attitudes and perceptions towards collaborating and interprofessional skills [6,59] and enhance clinical decision making, regardless of learner level [6]. The Pilot evaluation results revealed significant improvements in student perceptions of the roles of HHS disciplines and the core competencies of communication, mutual support, and teamwork. Most importantly, students had the unique opportunity to learn with, from and about each other during virtual Sim-IPE experiences that underscored the vital need for teamwork and collaboration in providing optimal patient-focused care.

Through Sim-IPE training offered by NYSIM, changes in faculty confidence levels and self-efficacy became fully evident, serving as a catalyst for the success of the pilot.

As national health care organizations and employers emphasize the importance of team-based care to improve health care delivery, minimize costs and maximize patient outcomes, it’s crucial for CUNY’s graduates to gain experience as members of an interprofessional team to enhance their readiness to successfully engage in professional practice through distinctive collaborative training. Given CUNY’s vast portfolio of HHS programs, this represents a unique opportunity to build a robust IPE program through realistic patient scenarios and faculty- trained IPE facilitators to engage students across disciplines via multiple modalities to facilitate interprofessional learning experiences, ultimately serving as one of the largest such programs in the country and a national model for innovative curriculum. Ideally, these high-quality collaborative practice experiences will significantly enhance the professional training and career readiness of CUNY students.

## References