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Interprofessional education (IPE) has been described as occurring ‘when students from two or more professions learn about, from, and with each other to enable effective collaboration and improve health outcome’. IPE has been mandated internationally across health curricula and the development of interprofessional competency-based education has been identified as a priority in many tertiary institutions. Historically, IPE within health curricula has been opportunistic with little consideration given to formation of professional identity. Professional identity is developed throughout a person's life and career, and this identity has three distinct elements: in being members of groups (social identity), having certain roles (role identities), or being the unique biological entities that they are (personal identities). With increasing exposure and utilisation of IPE amongst healthcare students, all three aspects of their identity formation are altered. Subsequently, their professional identity can be well formed and even rigidly set, long before they graduate from their respective degrees into the healthcare environment, affecting their sense of belonging and the ability to simultaneously identifying themselves with both their own profession, and that of the interprofessional community Therefore, the need to develop a suitable professional identity and professionalism, in relation to one's colleagues as well as themselves, is essential for ensuring optimal patient care from practitioners working as part of a healthcare team.

Background Practising skills to competency level in a simulated clinical environment is thought to prepare nursing students for the real world setting. The ability to prioritise and plan nursing care is also essential for effective work performance. There is, however, limited evidence to support that simulated learning improves preparation for clinical practice. Aim To examine the effectiveness of a time management intervention using simulation to improve nursing students' preparedness for medication administration in a clinical setting. Methods Quasi-experimental, pre-post-test design with a non-equivalent comparison group. Participants were second year university nursing students (n=180 total, n=92 intervention, n=88 comparison group). Time management activities were integrated into a low fidelity simulated environment. A self-administered validated questionnaire measured student nurse perception of preparedness for medication administration in a clinical setting. Findings While there was no significant difference for overall perceived preparedness for medication administration, the intervention group showed significantly improved perceived ability to clarify unclear instructions (p=0.019), monitor patients' conditions post medication administration (p=0.032) and assess medication effectiveness (p=0.034). Discussion and conclusion A time management intervention using simulation can effectively enhance students' preparedness for, and confidence in, medication administration in a clinical setting. Adequate theoretical pharmacology knowledge is crucial in preparing nursing students for medication administration in the clinical setting.

Interprofessional learning (IPL) during formal training enables interprofessional collaboration (IPC) in the workforce; however, on-campus IPL opportunities are seldom incorporated into curricula. We describe the development and implementation of two hospital simulation tutorials between nursing and pharmacy students. Students were required to provide "usual care" to a simulated patient at admission and discharge. A pre-post survey design was used to evaluate changes in Interdisciplinary Education Perception Scale (IEPS) score and student perceived educational value of the tutorials. The tutorials had a positive effect on IEPS scores (p 0.001), whereas gender and profession did not appear to influence scores (p = 0.082 and p = 0.923, respectively). Tutorials were rated either good or very good by 89.9% of students and 79.6% of students reporting new insights into the other profession This tutorial format could be easily adapted by other institutions as an engaging and rewarding strategy to better prepare students for IPC the workforce.

Mastery of auscultatory blood pressure is challenging for preregistration nursing students. This phenomenon has been attributed to the psychomotor skills required, knowledge about blood pressure measurement, and the teaching modality type. Most studies focus on developing blood pressure proficiency without determining the measurement accuracy. We sought to determine the efficacy of simulation-based learning on blood pressure measurement accuracy in first-year preregistration nursing students.First-year preregistration nursing students from a clinical subject were randomly assigned to laboratory groups, which formed the control and intervention groups. Each group received identical blood pressure measurement education, with the intervention group undertaking 2 additional hours of tuition, using human patient simulators programmed with a wide range of blood pressure measurements to replicate patient's blood pressures observed in clinical settings. At the end of the semester and after 40 hours of hospital clinical practice, participants were assessed for blood pressure accuracy on live subjects and completed a questionnaire on self-ratings of confidence and technical ability.Blood pressure accuracy was not significantly different between participants and assessors or between the control and intervention groups (all P0.05). The intervention group reported greater levels of confidence (P = 0.02) and self-rated technical ability (P = 0.01) in blood pressure measurement at week 14 of the semester; however, these difference were not observed at the end of 40 hours of clinical practice (P0.05).Accuracy in taking blood pressure was not enhanced by the use of a patient simulator, despite improvements in self-reported confidence and technical competency. Further research is required to evaluate the inclusion of simulation-based learning for blood pressure training in nursing students.