The aim of the NYU College of Nursing Teaching Oral-Systemic Health (TOSH) Program Interprofessional Oral-Systemic Health Standardized Patient and Case Study Experience is to promote the acquisition of the Core Competencies for Interprofessional Collaborative Practice and the Interprofessional Oral Health Core Clinical Competencies among future primary care providers by engaging nurse practitioner, nurse-midwifery, dental, and medical students in interprofessional oral-systemic health simulation experiences.
Methods:
In 2013, 2014, and 2015, students and faculty from NYU College of Nursing, College of Dentistry, and School of Medicine participated in an interprofessional oral-systemic health simulation experience, featuring a standardized patient and case study teaching-learning strategy, to advance students’ competence in both areas. The Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey (ICCAS) was selected to evaluate the degree to which students, using a pre-test/post-test approach, report a change in perception of their own IP competencies following the learning experience. Data from faculty facilitators was collected to assess their perceptions about the value of exposing students to interprofessional clinical simulation experiences focused on oral-systemic health.
Results:
For all student groups, the changes in ICCAS mean scores from pre to post were significant (p<0.001, two-tailed). There was also a statistically significant change in mean scores from pre-test to post-test in each of the six interprofessional competency domains measured by the ICCAS for all participating students (p<0.001, two-tailed). Faculty facilitators reported that the IPE clinical simulation experiences were valuable and positively influenced interprofessional communication, collaboration, patient communication, and student understanding of patient care roles.
Conclusion:
These findings suggest that the experience was similarly effective among all student groups in having a positive impact on perceived interprofessional competencies. Topics in which mean post-survey scores were lower are potential opportunities for curriculum refinements to further emphasize those competencies. The Teaching Oral-Systemic Health (TOSH) Program Interprofessional Oral-Systemic Health Clinical Simulation and Case Study Experience is effective as a standardized, replicable curriculum unit, using oral-systemic health as a population health exemplar, to teach and assess interprofessional competencies to nurse practitioner/midwifery, dental, and medical students.
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