Philadelphia, PA, February 11, 2011

The Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions, in conjunction with the Drexel University College of Medicine, held the first ever Robert Wood Johnson Inter-Professional Education Day, Educating Professional Nurses for Tomorrow’s Complex Clinical Environment & Emerging  Demographics: Enhancing Safety & Inter-Professional Communication.

Over 100 students from the College of Nursing and Health Professions, College of Medicine, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology first and second year residents collaborated in over nine hours of intense simulated obstetrical and labor and delivery patient encounters.

“This collaborative simulation is innovative because it is the future of health education. Although nursing students and medical students do not usually meet together in an academic setting,  this forum allows the disciplines to interact and learn from and with each other.,” said Inter-professional Education Day Project Director Kymberlee A. Montgomery, DrNP, WHNP-BC Women's Health Nurse Practitioner MSN Program Track Coordinator Assistant Clinical Professor Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions & Drexel University College of Medicine, Dept. OB/GYN.“We practice together… so we should learn together!”

Students were subjected to simulated scenarios of complex obstetrical patients, birthing mothers and their infants. Scripted scenarios with under-performing doctors were meant to test the instincts of students in a nurse sensitive outcome, Failure to Rescue (FTR).

FTR is identified by The National Quality Forum (NQF) as the inability to save a patient’s life after the development of a complication or death following the occurrence of an adverse event during hospitalization.

How healthcare professionals interact and communicate during intense situations can affect hospital outcomes for patients. Allowing students to simulate emergency situations better prepares them to communicate effectively real-life scenarios.

“We are preparing future health care providers from all disciplines to care for acutely ill patients in teams and to provide care in an outpatient setting as well as psychological support in times of crises,” said Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow Mary Ellen Smith Glasgow, PhD, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs, MSN Programs & Continuing Nursing Education.

Simulation results will be used to revise the College’s undergraduate nursing curriculum through the inclusion of substantive content on enhancing safety, improving inter-professional communication, and reflecting some of the Toyota Production System Safety (TPS) Principles.

The Toyota Production System Safety (TPS) Principles approach to manufacturing quality originated in the automobile industry and is being applied to quality improvement (QI) in healthcare delivery systems.

In the TPS model, frontline work groups identify problems, experiment with possible solutions, implement strategies to improve quality, resulting in a “ground-up” versus a “top-down” approach to problem solving.

The learning from the Inter-Professional Education Day, in the spirit of the TPS Principles will guide the revision of the undergraduate nursing curriculum. An innovation in education, the results are meant to serve as a national undergraduate nursing curriculum model.

“It is the intent of this project to develop nursing and interdisciplinary simulation scenarios focusing on safety, collaboration and crucial conversations so that students can learn how to deal with ineffective professional relationships and unsafe practice in a controlled environment,” said Dr. Glasgow.

Drexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions holds affiliations with some of the finest health care institutions in the United States, The College’s programs are designed to build knowledge, improve practice and culturally competent care, foster professional integrity, and ultimately improve the health outcomes of patients, families, and communities across the continuum of care. The College of Nursing and Health Professions Division of Continuing Nursing Education is nationally known for providing innovative quality continuing education programs.