Students’ understanding of teamwork and professional roles after interprofessional simulation—a qualitative analysis

BACKGROUND: This study explores how interprofessional simulation-based education (IPSE) can contribute to a change in students’ understanding of teamwork and professional roles. A series of 1-day training sessions was arranged involving undergraduate nursing and medical students. Scenarios were designed for practicing teamwork principles and interprofessional communication skills by endorsing active participation by all team members. METHODS: Four focus groups occurred 2–4 weeks after the training. Thematic analysis of the transcribed focus groups was applied, guided by questions on what changes in students’ understanding of teamwork and professional roles were identified and how such changes had been achieved. RESULTS: The first question, aiming to identify changes in students’ understanding of teamwork, resulted in three categories: realizing and embracing teamwork fundamentals, reconsidering professional roles, and achieving increased confidence. The second question, regarding how participation in IPSE could support the transformation of students’ understanding of teamwork and of professional roles, embraced another three categories: feeling confident in the learning environment, embodying experiences, and obtaining an outside perspective. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed the potential of IPSE to transform students’ understanding of others’ professional roles and responsibilities. Students displayed extensive knowledge on fundamental teamwork principles and what these meant in the midst of participating in the scenarios. A critical prerequisite for the development of these new insights was to feel confident in the learning environment. The significance of how the environment was set up calls for further research on the design of IPSE in influencing role understanding and communicative skills in significant ways. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s41077-017-0041-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.