Quality Olympics: Experiential Interprofessional Learning to Improve Quality and Safety.

Background: Effective communication and teamwork is essential to improve the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of patient care. Quality Olympics, a competitive, educational intervention, was designed to offer nursing and medical students the opportunity to apply new knowledge on safety quality and cost in an interprofessional environment.

Methods: Nursing (N = 220) and medical students (N = 163) participated in Quality Olympics. Student perceptions of teamwork were analyzed using the Student Perceptions of Interprofessional Clinical Education-Revised (SPICE-R).

Results: In years one and two, significance was found for nursing students on all survey items. Medical student responses reached significance on four items in year two.

Conclusions: The contrast in findings between these professions suggests that students would benefit from early, additional opportunities to link patient safety and outcomes to interprofessional collaboration. In doing so, educators may ensure that future providers have the attitudes, knowledge, and skills to impact individualized care and transform health care systems.[J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(10):589-593.].