Tried and Tested: Strategies to Implement Virtual Synchronous Interprofessional Education Sessions Using Standardized Patients

The COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the landscape for interprofessional education (IPE) opportunities for health professions students. Like numerous other academic institutions, our team of IPE researchers had to adapt IPE offerings to accommodate an online learning environment. During this workshop, we will share lessons learned on how to manage logistics, create clear instructions, and encourage participation from all learners to institute a streamlined virtual learning experience for students, facilitators, and standardized patients (SPs). We will describe how we re-designed synchronous IPE sessions focused on providing team-based care to a patient with ongoing chronic pain who is taking opioids to facilitate collaborative interaction using the cloud-based videoconferencing platform, Zoom. During the sessions, interprofessional student teams engage through virtual Zoom breakout rooms to review and discuss the patient case, including history, screening tool results, and a mock prescription monitoring program report. Student teams then interview the SP, design a holistic treatment plan, and discuss the treatment plan with the SP. Each session encompasses ~20 SPs, 5 facilitators, and 20 student teams representing multiple universities and health profession programs, including medicine, pharmacy, nursing, social work, addiction studies, athletic training, and others. Since 2021, over 1,000 students have participated in this IPE training. Lessons learned that will be presented include:
1) Collaborating with IT support or another designated Zoom host responsible for timekeeping, managing breakout rooms, broadcasting messages, and troubleshooting technology issues;
2) Ensuring student accountability by monitoring attendance logs and direct observation of interaction in the breakout rooms among Small Group Facilitators to maximize Zoom participation;
3) Facilitating clear communication with students, faculty, facilitators, SPs, and IT support by creating specific instruction guides (student session instruction guide, facilitator guide, IT support guide), clear student pre-work, and just-in-time facilitator trainings;
4) Addressing the need to provide constructive feedback to students, including protecting time for SPs to offer their perspective and creating a mechanism to collect and evaluate 150+ treatment plans annually.

The workshop will address the summit theme of “Interprofessional Learning for Collaborative Practice and Education” by providing an overview of innovative approaches to foster virtual interactions between SPs and interprofessional student teams. As part of the workshop, participants of the session will reflect on their own experiences with online IPE activities and share lessons they have learned. The session will utilize various active learning approaches including audience response polls, small group discussions, and self-reflection.

Learning objectives:
1) Reflect on and discuss the benefits and challenges of hosting IPE opportunities for health professions students using a virtual platform.
2) Share strategies for implementing virtual IPE sessions involving standardized patients and multiple health professions students.
3) Evaluate opportunities to adopt or improve virtual IPE activities at your institution.