Using Simulation to Promote Collaborative Interprofessional Ethical Decision Making in Palliative Care

Abstract : Palliative care involves an interprofessional approach wherein physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other healthcare professionals collaboratively provide holistic care for patients and their caregivers. There are limited opportunities for these healthcare professionals to collaboratively train together to optimize interprofessional palliative care delivery.
Key palliative care stakeholders worked with a simulation team to develop two simulation experiences that allowed a collaborative approach to care delivery during a one-day workshop attended by 12 learners. The first scenario was a case study of a patient who recently decided to forego life sustaining treatment. Participants were placed in two interprofessional learner groups to discuss ethical care concerns surrounding the patient. The second scenario was presented as a three-minute video that included discussions about a seriously ill infant whose mother was conflicted regarding continuation or discontinuation of life prolonging therapy. The learners then spent 30 minutes in interprofessional groups discussing ethical decision making and conflict resolution. Each of these simulation sessions was followed by a 30-minute debriefing session with learners and palliative care faculty that was led by a simulation facilitator.
A post-simulation survey was administered with a 100% response rate. Survey responses indicated that all of the learners either “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that the simulation “provided opportunities to utilize [their] communication skills effectively” and that after the simulation they “[felt] better prepared to perform in [their] role…”

Please include a short summary of your presentation that highlights why an attendee would want to participate in your session.: Palliative care involves an interprofessional approach wherein physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and other healthcare professionals collaboratively provide holistic care for patients and their caregivers. To promote this collaborative approach to care delivery, we developed two simulation experiences for attendees of a one-day workshop.