A Scoping Review of Interprofessional Simulation-Based Team Training Programs

Abstract

Interprofessional simulation-based team training (ISBTT) is promoted as a strategy to improve collaboration in healthcare, and the literature documents benefits on teamwork and patient safety. Teamwork training in healthcare is traditionally grounded in crisis resource management (CRM), but it is less clear whether ISBTT programs explicitly take the interprofessional context into account, with complex team dynamics related to hierarchy and power. This scoping review examined key aspects of published ISBTT programs including (1) underlying theoretical frameworks, (2) design features that support interprofessional learning, and (3) reported behavioral outcomes. Of 4854 titles identified, 58 articles met inclusion criteria. Most programs were based on CRM and related frameworks and measured CRM outcomes. Only 12 articles framed ISBTT as interprofessional education and none measured all interprofessional competencies. The ISBTT programs may be augmented by integrating theoretical concepts related to power and intergroup relations in their design to empower participants to navigate complex interprofessional dynamics.

FIGURE 1

Process to select the articles included in this review. The following search terms were used in PubMed, and subsequently adapted for Embase, Web of Science, ERIC, PsycINFO, Sociological Abstracts, and CINAHL: (interprofessional OR multidisciplinary OR interdisciplinary) AND (team OR teams OR teamwork OR collaboration OR communication OR dynamic OR dynamics) AND (simulation OR simulated OR simulate OR “virtual reality”) AND (patient safety OR patient outcome OR self-efficacy OR confidence OR efficiency OR successful resolution OR treatment outcomes OR throughput OR waiting time OR successful resuscitation OR operative complications OR re-operation OR “wrong site” OR “wrong patient” OR “patient satisfaction”).