Bridging the Divide: Faculty Reflections on Lessons from Interprofessional Simulation between Social Work and Nursing Students

Background & Significance:
Effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC) between social workers and nurses is essential for holistic, client-centered care. While accreditation standards such as CSWE’s EPAS emphasize interprofessional understanding, students often learn about other professions through didactic instruction or practicum experiences with little support. Simulation-based education is a dynamic, experiential method for building collaborative skills, yet it remains underused in social work education—particularly in contexts involving nursing professionals. Limited guidance exists on how to design, implement, and evaluate IPC simulations that meaningfully include social work students. This study addresses that gap by examining the experiences of social work and nursing faculty implementing a simulation with MSW and BSN students. It explores pedagogical strategies, implementation challenges, and lessons learned.

Methods:
This qualitative study draws from reflective process recordings written by the co-principal investigators (co-PIs), one from nursing and one from social work, who designed and implemented IPC simulations over a year. The simulations involved MSW and BSN students responding to a scenario with a bilingual client experiencing an opioid overdose. Simulated family members held critical information about the client’s substance use history—essential to care and accessible only through interprofessional collaboration. Before implementation, the co-PIs completed a two-day training on facilitation, equipment use, and debriefing. Over the year, they led ten simulation sessions with 26 MSW and 74 BSN students. Data consist of their written reflections, focusing on interprofessional dynamics, simulation design, and future implications.

Results:
The analysis identified several key domains that shaped the simulation experience. Participants noted distinct differences in professional culture. MSW students and faculty observed the rigid, hierarchical nature of nursing pedagogy, described by nurses as “eat their young.” In contrast, nurses perceived social work as more flexible and feeling-focused, which sometimes manifested as a lack of professionalism or respect for the profession. Role expectations between professions were also misaligned. Social work students understood nursing roles but were unsure what nurses expected from them. Nursing students often lacked clarity on engaging social workers, at times relegating them to translation tasks or overlooking them completely. Overall, nursing students, with more prior exposure, were more comfortable in the simulation environment, whereas social work students needed more time to adjust. A surprising finding involved faculty role distinctions that emerged during planning. Nursing faculty actively practice alongside students, while many social work faculty are not licensed practitioners and do not work in practicum sites. Overall, students and faculty reported high satisfaction with the simulation, emphasizing the depth of learning in a short period and recommending longer debriefing sessions in future interprofessional simulations to support reflection and role negotiation.

Conclusion & Implications:
Findings support the development of scalable, effective models for interprofessional education in social work, enhancing students’ readiness for collaboration, deepening role clarity, and strengthening interdisciplinary teamwork in complex care settings. Simulation-based co-learning allows students to engage directly with peers from other disciplines, fostering role clarity and collaboration. This study highlights the potential of simulation-based IPE to dismantle silos, bridge disciplinary divides, and enrich social work education.