Purpose: The healthcare system is ever-changing and multifaceted, patients are presenting to healthcare providers with more complex illnesses and shorter hospital stays. These patients require competent collaborative interprofessional care to have successful outcomes. Interprofessional education is thought to improve efficiency and patient safety. Interprofessional education is now widely being developed and used throughout the world as evidence finds that it leads to more positive interactions, cost-effective, and patient-centered care. Interprofessional education also leads to increased competency and self-efficacy of those involved and saves time in times of emergency. Facilities that train together are more likely to have excellent communication, clearly defined roles, improve understanding of scope of practice, and better satisfactions scores from the patients and staff. This collaborative type of education can enhance quality, safety, and efficiency for the healthcare system. Interprofessional education can be delivered through a variety of methods including but limited to simulation, role playing, rounding, and evidence-based projects. For these reasons and many others there is a large drive to establish Interprofessional education (IPE) within healthcare facilities. Commitment to professional excellence also includes a drive to improve patient outcomes by improving communication and teamwork which will lead to better patient outcomes and efficiency. This will help systems to become even more of an example of what excellence in patient care should be to the world. The purpose of the I.C.A.R.U.S. program is to meet the complex and multifaceted demands in patient care by improving communication and teamwork between the nurses and the physicians, starting with the medical and nursing residents.
Methods: Phase one of the I.C.A.R.U.S. program involves conducting mock codes with the medical and nursing residents and surveying them after the experience. The mock codes occur once or twice a month and all participants and observers are asked for feedback about the experience and ways to improve for the future. The nursing residents were later rounded on to see if there were any changes to their confidence when interacting with the physicians.
Results: The program is not completed and is in its early stages but after the first few sessions the medical and nursing residents verbalized that they wanted more activities like the mock codes and that they felt they had a greater understanding of the other professional. They felt more comfortable communicating with each other.
Conclusion: Phase one of the I.C.A.R.U.S. program is still in the early stages but it showed leadership and members of the healthcare team that there is a need and a desire for these types of activities. It also has thus far improved communication between the medical and nursing residents as well as between the nursing residents and the attending physicians. The mock code improved team work and communication for the staff that participated. The mock code experience improved understanding of roles and communication for participants and observers as well.
