Virtual Simulation for Dementia Care: Bridging Disciplines, Building Interprofessional Collaborations

Background Dementia care presents complex challenges for healthcare professionals, particularly in supporting autonomy and shared decision making. Nursing and social work students often lack adequate preparation to navigate these situations due to limited clinical exposure and interprofessional training opportunities. Virtual simulation offers a promising educational strategy to address these gaps. Objective We aimed to design and implement a virtual simulation titled Interprofessional Collaboration: Dementia, Delirium, and Decision-Making to enhance undergraduate nursing and social work students’ competencies in dementia care, with a focus on autonomy and collaborative decision-making. Methods The simulation was developed in three structured phases. Phase 1, the pre-design stage, engaged scholars and educators in collaboratively identifying the simulation topic and defining the intended learning outcomes. Phase 2 involved an intensive workshop with experts in simulation development, resulting in the creation of core content including scriptwriting and structural design as well as iterative refinements based on participant feedback. Upon completion, Phase 3 focused on the implementation and evaluation of the simulation within educational contexts. Results The simulation was integrated into nursing and social work curricula at Thompson Rivers University and Cambrian College, reaching over 200 students in 2024 and 2025. It is freely accessible via the CAN-Sim platform, supporting both synchronous and asynchronous learning. Preliminary feedback indicates strong engagement and pedagogical alignment. Conclusion The virtual simulation represents a significant advancement in dementia education, fostering ethical reasoning, and interprofessional collaboration. By addressing critical educational gaps and offering an open-access resource, this initiative supports broader integration of person-centered dementia care training across disciplines. Future research will evaluate long-term outcomes and inform further refinement of simulation-based approaches.