Pharmacy students practice communication and collaboration on Interprofessional Day

 

“Effective collaboration is fundamental to ensuring high-quality care, good communication practices, and the safety of our patients. Interprofessional Day is one of the many opportunities at MUSC for students to practice those team and communication skills they’ll need to be effective in their chosen careers.” - Lisa Saladin, MUSC executive vice president for academic affairs and provost

MUSC’s Interprofessional Day is a signature annual event. More than 1,500 members of the MUSC enterprise are involved in the day, which provides students with a rare, valuable opportunity to engage in team-based activities involving students from all six colleges.

Dusti Annan-Coultas and Kimberly Kascak in the Interprofessional (IP) Office direct IP Day activities, which is mandatory for all first- and second-year students. In the MUSC College of Pharmacy, a number of faculty and staff members volunteer as facilitators or actors in live simulations or online team-skill activities.

The drama of disclosure – live simulation

One of the most difficult tasks in health care is dealing with medication errors or other mistakes that can negatively impact a patient and their family. In the Interprofessional (IP) Day live case study, students must deliver the news of the error to actors playing the patient’s family and, as a team, respond to how the family members react. Student are put in interdisciplinary groups of four to seven members to interact with an upset family member, who may respond in one of several ways (understanding, sad, angry, combination). Roby Hill, the MUSC College of Pharmacy’s director of communications, is acting as one of the family members. “It’s very challenging for students to face a live and unpredictable person, particularly in an emotionally-charged situation,” Hill said. “But it is great preparation for the kinds of interactions they will have to face in their careers.”

The game of communication – team skills challenge activity

The team-skills challenge activity is modeled after an “escape room” game, where players must solve puzzles or problems to escape a locked room. In the video game “Sloppy Mountain Medical Center,” each player on a team has three patients and access to only one of the rooms in the medical center. The players have to communicate, collaborate, and problem-solve as a team to successfully discharge their collective patients. Megan Draper, director of development for the MUSC College of Pharmacy, is one of the facilitators managing the game.

“It is a clever and challenging activity that helps develop leadership skills, effective communication, and cooperative problem-solving,” Draper said. “These skills are important to have in every walk of life, particularly in health care, and the game creates that sense of distraction you get from being under pressure. It’s great practice!”