CHANGES IN ATHLETIC THERAPY AND PARAMEDIC STUDENT PERCEPTIONS FOLLOWING AN INTERPROFESSIONAL EDUCATION WORKSHOP USING SIMULATED PRE-HOSPITAL EMERGENCIES

This study used simulated pre­hospital emergencies scaffolded by a new Socio­Ecological Model of First Responder Care in order to teach Interprofessional Competencies, mainly Role Clarification, by discussing stereotypes between two groups of medical professional students.

Cohorts of third year Athletic Therapy and first year paramedic students observed two simulated prehospital emergencies and assessed the technical and non­technical skills of an athletic therapy team working with a team of two paramedics, respectively. Each simulated emergency consisted of one standardized patient, two athletic therapy students and two paramedic students. Both simulations involved a medical emergency (standardized patient) in a simulated sport environment.

Four instruments were completed by all participants. The Student Stereotype Rating Questionnaire (SSRQ) measured health care students’ perceptions of a different profession using nine items and a 5­pt Scale (Ateah et al., 2011). The MiniCEX measured technical and non­ technical skills performance using sixteen items and a 10­pt scale (Ansari, Ali, & Donnon, 2013). The TEAM measured teamwork performance using eleven items and a 6­pt scale (Cooper et al., 2010). A Workshop Feedback Survey provided feedback to the facilitators regarding the logistics of the workshop.

The workshop consisted of a pre­-simulation form completion period, emergency medical simulations where role players are evaluated by observers, and a post­simulation form completion period. Prior to the simulations, all participants completed the SSRQ to capture stereotypes before watching and discussing the simulations. During the simulation, the athletic therapy student observers evaluated the athletic therapy role players using the MiniCEX (Athletic Therapy), and the paramedic student observers evaluated the paramedic role players using the MiniCEX (EMT­P). All observers used the TEAM form to evaluate the interactions between athletic therapy and paramedic role players. Following the simulation, observers and role players completed the SSRQ and Learning Activity Feedback Survey. Data was collected in Mar 2018 using descriptive statistics procedures; qualitative data will be analyzed using thematic analysis and presented.

After two years of piloting the workshop, participants have continued to express that the workshop is valuable in developing interprofessional skills and relationships.