Reflections on design and impact of an inter-professional simulation event for paramedic science and learning disability nursing students

Individuals with a learning disability are more likely to have health inequalities and experience barriers to having their health needs met as shown by the increase in ambulatory care sensitive cases (Glover and Evison, 2013). Good inter-professional working is crucial for all healthcare staff to improve service user experiences, outcomes and staff satisfaction through considering reasonable adjustments, multi-disciplinary involvement and person-centred care. Interdisciplinary peer learning offers an insight into the knowledge, roles and benefits of other disciplines to enhance attitudes, values and behaviours of students. Further to this joint simulations offer a valuable medium in which students can practice skills needed for collaboration, clinical reasoning and decision making as part of a multi-disciplinary team. Two simulations were developed for paramedic and learning disability Nursing students which were reported to have enhanced confidence specifically around interdisciplinary communications. A collaborative paper with students from both disciplines is now being written for publication.