Using Virtual Environments to Achieve Learner Outcomes in Interprofessional Healthcare Education

Background

Patient safety is currently one of the most urgent issues facing our health care systems. Beginning with the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) (Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000) report on patient safety in which it was reported up to 98,000 people die each year because of medical errors, patient safety has become an urgent concern for both health care administrators and those educating the future generation of health care providers. The IOM (2003) has made recommendations on health care education focused around their vision, “All health professionals should be educated to deliver patient-centered care as members of an interdisciplinary team, emphasizing evidence-based practice, quality improvement approaches and informatics” (http://www.jointcommission.org/sentinel_event.aspx). Many factors including how different professions train their students to communicate create the challenges in communication that currently exist between physicians and nurses in particular (Leonard, Graham, & Bonacum, 2004).