In Pursuit of Health Justice: Preparing the Workforce Via Virtual Interprofessional Simulation

Background and Purpose: Social work and other health professions educators are tasked with preparing the workforce to further health justice, i.e. equitable and socially just care. Integrated care, the provision of interprofessional, holistic care, is one approach purported to further health justice by reducing health inequities and improving access, delivery, and quality of care; an important pillar of integrated care is the implementation of complex practice behaviors including communication and teamwork. However, the onset of COVID-19 exacerbated health and social inequities and upended the social work and health professions education system. The pedagogical methods used to train the workforce in interprofessional communication and teamwork, including interprofessional simulation experiences, required adaptation and innovation as education moved rapidly to a virtual learning environment. This study sought to better understand the impact of the virtual learning environment on health professions students by examining differences between Master level social work (MSW) and nursing (MSN) students’ interprofessional communication and teamwork behaviors after participation in a virtual interprofessional education (IPE) simulation versus a traditional, in-person IPE simulation.

Methods: The IPEs were part of a HRSA-funded training grant focused on developing knowledge and skills in the provision of integrated care. The first IPE was held in-person during the 2019-2020 academic year; the second IPE was held virtually during the 2020-2021 academic year. Using a pre-post survey design, differences in interprofessional communication and teamwork behaviors were assessed with the Performance Assessment for Communication and Teamwork (PACT) tool. The PACT was administered before and after the interprofessional learning experiences to evaluate students’ interprofessional teamwork and communication including skills, team structure, leadership, situation monitoring, mutual support, and communication. Independent samples t-test were conducted on the subscale change scores using the IPE platform (virtual or in-person) as the grouping variable.

Results: The study sample (N=134) included advanced-year MSW students (n=49) and MSN students (n=85). Seventy-nine students participated in the in-person IPE and 55 students participated in the virtual IPE. The sample was predominantly White (66%), Non-Hispanic/Latino (90%), and female (91%). Results indicated no statistically significant differences in change scores between virtual and in-person IPE participation across any of the six subscales: skills (t95.052 = .195, p = .846), team structure (t94.417 = .144, p = .886), leadership (t128 = .866, p = .388), situation monitoring (t127 = .671, p = .504), mutual support (t128 = 1.648, p = .102), and communication (t128 = 1.752, p = .082).

Conclusions and Implications: Virtual and in-person IPE simulation experiences provide comparable preparation for health professions students in communication and teamwork behaviors essential to integrated care. This has important implications while regulations imposed by COVID-19 are still in effect; it also holds promise for the future. Continued use of virtual learning platforms for interprofessional learning experiences beyond COVID-19 may increase accessibility to training for students who are geographically dispersed and who face barriers to in-person learning. This expansion of training opportunities has subsequent implications for increasing patients’ access to equitable and socially just care, especially among underserved and vulnerable populations.