Students Learn How Teamwork is Key to Patient Care

Multidisciplinary simulation brings together students from seven SHU programs

Key Highlights

• ^{Sacred Heart University students from nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy, physician assistant studies, athletic training, speech-language pathology and social work collaborated in an interprofessional simulation centered on a boxer’s traumatic brain injury}
• ^{The simulation followed the patient from ringside care to home rehabilitation, mirroring real-world, team-based health care models}
• ^{Students learned how to navigate communication, family dynamics and interdisciplinary coordination to deliver holistic care}
• ^{Faculty across three colleges designed the exercise to emphasize collaboration, empathy and comprehensive recovery strategies}

Though Ron’s pugilistic prowess had won him the boxing match, a few of his opponent’s blows had landed with a wallop. A solid hit to the head resulted in a brain injury and trip to the emergency room, then a long recovery.

Fortunately, this scenario of a boxer suffering from a significant injury was only a simulation developed by faculty from departments within Sacred Heart University’s College of Health Professions, Davis & Henley College of Nursing and the School of Social Work. With simulated patients, faculty members, and a pediatric manikin taking on roles in this story, undergraduate and graduate students across disciplines followed the boxer on his journey from the initial medical evaluation immediately following his match, to transportation to the emergency room and inpatient care, to at-home rehab.

With this more comprehensive approach to care, students from multiple disciplines went beyond traditional clinical experiences. They worked together in diverse environments, learning how they each uniquely addressed the challenges and complexities the patient and his family faced because of the injury. The simulation created the type of situation students will face when they enter the workforce, where there is a growing trend toward team-based care.

The team approach was key to this simulation exercise, which was conducted as a pilot in 2024 and repeated this past summer. The simulation fostered interprofessional collaboration among students in Sacred Heart’s athletic training, nursing, physician assistant studies, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology and social work programs.

Each discipline had a part in the story. Aspiring athletic trainers provided ringside care and initial evaluation before accompanying the patient to the emergency room, where physician assistant and nursing students took over. Future speech-language pathologists and social workers made bedside assessments. Once the patient was medically stable, occupational therapy and physical therapy students spoke with the patient about next steps.

State-of-the-art learning labs at Sacred Heart University’s Center for Healthcare Education, such as nursing labs and the occupational therapy program’s home suite and driving simulator, allowed for on-site observations by faculty and fellow students.

Throughout the exercise, students witnessed the importance of having layers of expertise and distinct approaches to care when it came to helping a patient navigate real-world recovery—from injury to post-trauma care. As the boxer coped with his traumatic brain injury, they saw how it also impacted the people around him, including his wife, his mother-in-law and children.

Familial obligations, patient expectations and interpersonal dynamics all have a profound impact on recovery, said Millie Hepburn, associate professor and assistant program director for the second degree accelerated nursing program. “And all that creates a level of chaos that was intended for this exercise.”

Students involved in the simulation said the experience helped them to see “the big picture.” They learned about other professions and appreciated the “real-world understanding” the simulation provided.

“It’s important to learn how to develop a relationship with the caregivers, too,” added Sheelagh Schlegel, associate clinical professor of occupational therapy. “You are not just working with a patient in isolation; you are working with them as part of their family system.”

“Students had to learn how to negotiate with one another during a very stressful event for the family. They did that not just as individuals, but also working as a bigger team,” said Susan Ronan, an associate clinical professor in the physical therapy program. “They had to pay attention to what students in the other disciplines were saying so the family didn’t get conflicting information.”

It was important to ensure that the experience was as realistic as possible. The actors were encouraged to challenge the students by interrupting them, asking questions about unfamiliar medical terminology and, at times, talking over them, as this is what clinicians experience in their practice. After each scenario, students and faculty met to discuss what was learned during the exercise, and students were encouraged to share what had driven them to make their clinical decisions.

Other faculty members who participated in the exercise included Victoria Osborne-Leute, associate professor of social work; Michael Chase, assistant clinical professor in physician assistant studies; Kathryn Anderson, assistant clinical professor in speech-language pathology; Gina Reitmeyer, assistant clinical professor of undergraduate nursing and Julie Nolan, assistant clinical professor in the athletic training program. Jason Blando, the SHU simulation operations specialist played two roles; he assisted in the simulation experience and was the primary patient, the boxer.

“As a team, we wanted to make it as realistic as possible,” said Melissa Scollan-Koliopoulos, associate professor of graduate nursing. “The students not only had to work with the patient but also engage with the family.”

The students who participated said they appreciated the opportunity to work as a team and see firsthand what skills their peers in disciplines other than their own brought to the table and how they navigated the situation. Several students commented that they did not realize how much their assessments overlapped and expressed how much more comfortable they felt working as a team after the experience. For faculty, this experience strengthened their deep commitment to providing more opportunities for interdisciplinary work.

And while bringing together multiple faculty members to engage in interprofessional education experiences can be extremely challenging because of conflicting faculty and student schedules, space restrictions and even just the time to develop these scenarios, the team intends to continue to provide these kinds of learning opportunities to students.

Hepburn said the group is preparing another interdisciplinary exercise thanks to a grant from the National Library of Medicine. The team will soon be launching a virtual reality simulation. For this experience, students from three colleges will engage in a patient experience using metaverse headsets in real-time scenarios and offer evaluations based on social drivers of health. The faculty team is sharing this novel experience via presentations and a manuscript as an example for others to follow at the Society for Simulation in Healthcare in January 2026.

“I think there were a lot of ‘aha’ moments for our students,” Hepburn said of the past simulations. “I think students realized we are all offering care from a slightly different lens. But together, this approach provides truly comprehensive care and better patient outcomes.”