SC9 Adult nurses and operating department practitioners, natural bed-fellows or a bridge too far? An evaluation of an interprofessional education simulation event

Abstract

Background Interprofessional education (IPE) is well embedded in undergraduate health curricula and much evidence supports its use (Barwell, Arnold and Berry, 2013). However, scant literature exists on which health and care disciplines, such as Adult Nurses and Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs), prefer to work with in simulated learning events. Where evidence exists, this tends to be how students rate working with each other, rather than preferential choices (Buckley et al., 2012). Summary of work This study took place over a number of simulated inter-professional events, with a range of health and care disciplines students, using a variety of simulation tools. The total number of participants was Adult Nurses n=16, ODPs n=18. All participants completed a Bristol Online Survey immediately after the simulation asking them to rate which profession(s) they would prefer to work with in future events. Summary of results An ordinal logistic regression analysis was carried out on survey data collected. The independent variables were ODPs and Adult Nurses and the dependent variables were the participant answers on a 5-point Likert scale asking which other (not their) discipline they would prefer to work with. The odds of ODPs choosing Adult Nurses as the discipline they would prefer to work with at these events was 1.994 (95% CI, 1.034 to 3.334) times that of Adult Nurses choosing ODPs as the discipline they would prefer to work with at these events, a statistically significant effect, Wald χ² (1)=5.122, p=0.021. Discussion and conclusions These data could be the basis for a discussion on the lack of understanding of ODP roles and possible collaboration with Adult Nurses. There is little understanding of the scope and importance of the ODP role and is seen in national higher education application figures to ODP courses, in comparison with Adult Nursing. In addition, the national shortage of ODPs may only accentuate this disharmony. It is clear that a statistical difference in preferential choice exists, with ODPs choosing to work with Adult Nurses almost twice that of Adult Nurses choosing to work with ODPs. This supports the importance of inter-professional education and the understanding of other professions, to improve team working across health and care facilities. Recommendations It is recommended that further analysis is carried out to ascertain the reasons why ODPs would preferentially choose to carry out simulation events more than Adult Nurses would with ODPs. References Barwell J, Arnold F, Berry H. How interprofessional learning improves care. Nursing Times2013;109(21):14–16. Buckley S, Hensman M, Thomas S, et al. Developing interprofessional simulation in the undergraduate setting: Experience with five different professional groups. Journal of Interprofessional Care2012;26(5):362–9.