Incorporating Interprofessional Teamwork and Communication into a Concept-Based Curriculum to Promote Transition to Practice

Teamwork and communication are essential concepts for new graduate registered nurses working as members of the interprofessional team. Studies have shown the efficacy of applying these interprofessional education concepts by allowing student nurses to round with health teams before graduation. The innovative practice of rounding significantly impacts patient safety, quality of care, transition to practice, and overall job satisfaction. This curriculum improvement project used a mixed-method design to evaluate qualitative and quantitative data regarding the incorporation of the IPE concepts into a concept-based curriculum. Nineteen (n=19) pre-licensure student nurses enrolled in an associate degree nursing program participated in the project. The participants received six hours of didactic instruction and four hours of simulated training before completing a rounding experience in the medical intensive care unit of a rural hospital in southeastern North Carolina. Results indicating positive perceptions regarding the application of teamwork and communication concepts have provided support for their incorporation throughout the curriculum. Participants reported significant positive differences in their perceptions before and after the experience on three scales using the University of the West of England Entry-level Interprofessional Questionnaire - teamwork and communication (p=0.016), interprofessional learning (p=0.03), and interprofessional interaction (p=0.05). Evaluation of qualitative data collected using the Clinical Performance Evaluation (CPE) rubric also revealed positive perceptions after rounding. Anecdotal data from course evaluations were used to support the improvements needed and promote sustainability.