Development of Multiprofessional Simulation-based Education in South Ostrobothnia, Finland

Abstract

Continuous multiprofessional development and networking are essential elements of health and social care practice today. This paper gathers together the results gained so far of a regional research and development project and discusses their application and implications for future. The aims of the project were to create a network-like simulated learning environment, to develop multiprofessional simulation education for medical students and for students representing two levels of nursing education and to create a multiprofessional simulation-based coaching programme for health and social care professionals in small and medium-sized enterprises. The project partners were two educational institutions and a Central Hospital in Finland. The first sub-project involved an online survey at the turn of 2016 and 2017, whose purpose was to describe nursing and medical staff’s (n=125) knowledge of simulated learning and their experiences about the usefulness of simulation-based education. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS Statistics for Windows 24 and qualitative data using inductive content analysis. Another online survey was conducted as part of the second sub-project in 2017 to study nurse and practical nurse students’ experiences (n=21) of joint simulation training. The results were analysed using SPSS. The third sub-project, which aims at the development of a new simulation coaching project for health and social care staff in small and medium-sized enterprises, also involved a survey conducted in 2017 to study staff’s learning needs (n=125). The results of the three surveys confirmed that both nursing and medical staff, students and professionals working in small and medium-sized enterprises find multiprofessional simulation-based learning effective and useful in promoting networking and the exchange of knowledge, skills and support. This paper also discusses the practical applications of the project results.