Effects of interprofessional simulation on undergraduate nursing students’ perceived interprofessional collaboration competency in the United States

• Limited resources impede interprofessional education among health disciplines. • Cross-collaboration simulations expand access to interprofessional education. • Innovative solutions are vital for resource-poor healthcare training programs. Patient care outcomes depend heavily on interprofessional collaboration (IPC), with nurses often leading team communication. Interprofessional education (IPE), when two or more disciplines learn from one another, is a vital tool in nursing curricula to prepare competent professionals. Despite strong support for IPE in nursing education, faculty face barriers (i.e., under-resourcing) to its consistent integration into the curriculum. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of an interprofessional simulation (IPS) on senior nursing students’ (sNS) perceived IPC competency. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design study was utilized. The IPE Collaboration Competency Self-Assessment Tool (Version 3) measured IPC among sNS, both before and following participation in an IPS with speech-language pathology students involving standardized neurological patients portrayed by theater students. The study found that sNS experienced a significant increase in perceived IPC in both “interacting” and “valuing” domains after participating in this IPS. Participation in an IPS with live standardized patients as a teaching modality enhances perceived competency in IPC among sNS, utilizing limited resources to strengthen IPE.