The Use of DVD Simulation as an Interprofessional Education Tool with Undergraduate Occupational Therapy Students

Abstract

Health care professionals, including occupational therapists, are required to work collaboratively with other disciplines in order to provide high-quality care to their clients. As such, it is paramount that health care professional students learn about the professional roles of others and teamwork through interprofessional education (IPE). However, students are often educated in isolation from other disciplines and difficulties with clinically-based IPE have been acknowledged. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate occupational therapy students' perceptions of the use of digital video disc (DVD) simulations as a learning tool for IPE and practice placement education. Eleven DVD simulations were developed by Monash University and a team of health care professionals. Students from the Bachelor of Occupational Therapy programme at Monash University viewed two or more simulations, and their perceptions were elicited using a mixed methodology approach consisting of a self-report questionnaire (n = 19) and three focus groups. Overall, the DVD simulations were perceived positively as a useful tool for IPE, to supplement practice placement education by occupational therapy students. Although the students did not feel that the simulations could replace actual practice placements, the cost benefit of using DVD simulations to teach, promote and facilitate IPE should be further investigated.

Capturing the Combined Clinic: Inter-Professional Multimedia Musculoskeletal Examination as a Teaching Resource

“…Participants generally agreed that IPE could enhance an appreciation of others' roles which should lead to better delivery of patient care. This is consistent with previous research which supports IPE delivery within a VLT [3,4].…”

“…Moreover, it was judged that inter-professional exchange provided for learning opportunities for skills competence training and a deeper appreciation of other health professional roles for decision-making and patient care. This resonates with the literature on IPE and interdisciplinary teamwork [3,4,21]. Indeed, the initial online survey identified a willingness to use virtual learning tools for skills training.…”

“…A distinct advantage of on-line DVD-based instruction is that it does ameliorate time pressures for educators, and could replace or at least augment formal face-to-face instruction [3,4]. Participants felt that a DVD would be a helpful adjunct, rather than a replacement for teaching.…”

“…Physiotherapy was a core subject but the decision was later made to offer SEM in a nominally separate (but in fact integrated) course for Physiotherapists. The apparent advantages of this situation of doctors and physiotherapists attending the same lectures and learning the same skills led to the current teaching paradigm [1, 3,4]. Improved productivity, enhanced job satisfaction and better patient outcomes have also been cited as positive outcomes [5,6].…”

The impact of ‘Generation Y’ occupational therapy students on practice education

“…Simulation involves engaging the student in an experience designed to produce particular scenarios or responses (Merryman, 2010). It has been used for practice education preparation (Brown & Williams, 2009) and debriefing (Merryman, 2010), in addition to developing knowledge and clinical reasoning using DVDs (Williams, Brown, Scholes, French & Archer, 2010) and interactive video (Tomlin, 2005). The question remains whether simulation can replace parts of practice education, or be an essential part of preparation for real clinical experiences for students.…”