Why an IPE Team Matters… Improvement in Identification of Hospital Hazards: A Room of Horrors Pilot Study

• Published in: Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare 2022-01, Vol.15, p.1349-1360
• Main Authors: Reime, Marit Hegg, Molloy, Margory A, Blodgett, Thomas J, Telnes, Kirsten Irene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Academic achievement; Care and treatment; Collaboration; Educational objectives; Health aspects; Health care; hospital hazards; Hospital patients; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Interprofessional education; interprofessional learning; Laboratories; Learning; Learning activities; Learning strategies; Medical errors; Medical laboratories; Medical technology; Nosocomial infections; Nursing; Occupational therapy; Oral hygiene; Original Research; Patient safety; Patients; Pedagogy; Pilot projects; Professions; questionnaire; Radiography; Safety and security measures; Simulation; simulation-based learning; Students; Teachers; team based learning; Teams
• ISSN: 1178-2390; 1178-2390
• DOI: 10.2147/JMDH.S368363

To evaluate student performance in a simulation-based interprofessional learning activity that focused on identifying patient safety hazards in a simulated patient's hospital room. Students from nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiography, social education, social work, biomedical laboratory science, dental hygiene, and medicine participated in this two-phased study. In the first phase, students worked alone to identify safety hazards. In the second phase, students worked in interprofessional teams. Following each phase, students completed a structured questionnaire to report their findings. In addition, following the first phase, each student wrote down the hazards they identified in an unstructured essay format. Out of 48 intended hazards, individual students identified 10.7% on the open essay and 42.6% on the questionnaire, and interprofessional teams identified 90.1%. The number of hospital hazards identified increased considerably when working in interprofessional teams. A room of horrors exercise expands participants' observational skills. With some modifications, this pilot study can be implemented on a wider scale with the goal of increasing interprofessional students' awareness of hospital hazards.