Utilizing simulation to assess clinical decision making between physician assistant and physical therapy students

Abstract

Abstract Discharge transitions are one of the highest risk activities in healthcare. Physical therapists (PTs) and physician assistants (PAs) have a critical role in discharge transitional planning in the acute care arena. Simulation based interprofessional education (SIM-IPE) is an emerging teaching technique involving participants from two or more professions engaged in a simulated experience. The aims of the interprofessional program were to compare the discharge transition recommendations of PT and PA students of a medically complex, acute care patient pre- and post- SIM-IPE and to compare the clinical decision-making rationale for the discharge transition recommendation pre- and post- SIM-IPE. PT and PA students participated in SIM-IPE encounters with standardized patients. The encounters focused on high-risk, problem-prone patients with variable discharge transition options. The most frequently recommended discharge transition pre- SIM-IPE was the same between the PT and PA students; however, there was a 29.5% discordance when comparing the rank ordering of discharge transition recommendations between PT and PA. Prior to the SIM-IPE, PT students gave the highest priority to functional status and home situation, and PA students gave the highest priority to medical status, medical prognosis, and medications. Following the SIM-IPE, PT students ranked medical status, medical prognosis, and medications higher as discharge transition clinical decision-making variables as compared with their pre- SIM-IPE data, and PA students ranked functional status and home situation higher as discharge transition clinical decision-making variables as compared to their pre- SIM-IPE data. In this teaching and learning experience, the SIM-IPE intervention appeared to influence clinical decision-making of participants.