543 - Intern-nurse shadowing program may lead to improved interprofessional collaboration

Poster Number: 543
Publication Number: 543.324

Lauren S. Starnes, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Beth Loats, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Cristina Loaiza, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Joseph R. Starnes, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN, United States; Alison Herndon, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Nashville, TN, United States; Vicki Jones, Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt, Murfreesboro, TN, United States

Background: Lack of understanding or respect for differing roles in interprofessional settings can negatively impact communication and lead to unintentional patient harm. Separate training of nurses and doctors impairs role understanding, and exposure to the other role may improve collaboration and enable safer care.

Objective: Improve pediatric intern and nurse understanding of roles, perceived communication skills, and attitude toward interprofessional teamwork through a shadowing program.

Design/Methods: Pediatric interns and nurses at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt participated in a reciprocal shadowing program rooted in social cognitive theory. A multidisciplinary group identified specific tasks and topics for participants to target during a four-hour shadowing experience. Participants completed a REDCap pre-survey including the validated Jefferson Scale of Attitudes Towards Physician-Nurse Collaboration (JSATPNC) (Hojat, 1999) and questions on the roles, workflow, and training of the other profession. After shadowing, participants completed a post-survey with both repeat pre-survey and new feedback questions. Responses were on a scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (4). Groups were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test.

Results: 24 interns and 20 nurses participated over 12 months. 17 interns (71%) and 18 nurses (90%) completed pre-surveys. 13 interns (54%) and 13 nurses (65%) completed post-surveys. After shadowing, nurses reported better understanding intern responsibilities (p=0.0001), workflow (p< 0.0001), and training (p=0.0004). Interns reported better understanding nursing workflow (p=0.0117) (Table 1). Over 90% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the program improved their ability to communicate and be more effective on interprofessional teams. There were no differences between pre- and post-survey JSATPNC scores (Table 2).

Conclusion(s): Participants felt the curriculum improved communication, interprofessional collaboration, and role understanding. Limitations include a small sample size and ceiling effect of the JSATPNC. Future iterations will include reflective questions aligned with social cognitive learning theory to more strongly instill skills critical to interprofessional work.