Why an IPE Team Matters… Improvement in Identification of Hospital Hazards: A Room of Horrors Pilot Study

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate student performance in a simulation-based interprofessional learning activity that focused on identifying patient safety hazards in a simulated patient’s hospital room. Participants and Methods Students from nursing, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, radiography, social education, social work, biomedical laboratory science, dental hygiene, and medicine participated in this two-phased study. In the first phase, students worked alone to identify safety hazards. In the second phase, students worked in interprofessional teams. Following each phase, students completed a structured questionnaire to report their findings. In addition, following the first phase, each student wrote down the hazards they identified in an unstructured essay format. Results Out of 48 intended hazards, individual students identified 10.7% on the open essay and 42.6% on the questionnaire, and interprofessional teams identified 90.1%. Conclusion The number of hospital hazards identified increased considerably when working in interprofessional teams. A room of horrors exercise expands participants’ observational skills. With some modifications, this pilot study can be implemented on a wider scale with the goal of increasing interprofessional students’ awareness of hospital hazards.