http://informahealthcare.com/jic ISSN: 1356-1820 (print), 1469-9567 (electronic) J Interprof Care, 2015; 29(3): 268–270 ! 2015 Informa UK Ltd. DOI: 10.3109/13561820.2014.944259 SHORT REPORT Interprofessional education using simulation of an overnight inpatient ward shift Kristina M. Joyal 1 , Cara Katz 1 , Nicole Harder 2 and Heather Dean 1 1 Faculty of Medicine and 2 Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Abstract In healthcare it is rare for professionals to practice together before they practice together. Nightmare Night Care is an annual interprofessional voluntary event for health sciences students in nursing, medicine and pharmacy to come together for a simulated hospital overnight ward shift. The purpose of this study was to investigate the interprofessional knowledge, skills and attitudes the students learn from this experience. Students responded to surveys before (n ¼ 45) and after the event (n ¼ 11) regarding their understanding of the goals of interprofessional education (IPE), roles and responsibilities of other professions, and what they learned from this event. Responses demonstrated that students are eager to learn in interprofessional settings and that IPE events may aid in building understanding and communication between professions. IPE events are an opportunity to allow students to learn about each other; however, they must occur frequently, and must include an orientation on role clarification if they are to have an effect on changing preconceived stereotypes of the other professions. Keywords Interprofessional education, night shift, patient care team, simulation, students History Received 6 November 2013 Revised 26 May 2014 Accepted 9 July 2014 Published online 29 July 2014 Introduction Health care professionals are required to work in collaborative teams to optimize quality of care and patient safety, yet in health sciences curricula, there is controversy about how to teach teamwork in an interprofessional environment. Interprofessional education (IPE) favorably improves perceptions among health professions students (e.g. Ateah et al., 2011; Kowitlawakul et al., 2014) and early IPE can prevent the development of negative attitudes and improve teamwork (e.g. Hood et al., 2014). One annual event in the repertoire of IPE events at the University of Manitoba, Canada, is Nightmare Night Care (NMNC), a volunteer, simulated 12-h night. The event began in the Faculty of Nursing in 2006, and medical and pharmacy students were added in 2010. The event included a formal orientation for all selected students. Junior medical (Year 1) and nursing (Year 2) students performed the role of standardized patients, senior students in nursing (Years 3 and 4), medicine (Year 2) and pharmacy (Year 4) performed their respective professional roles. Graduate medical residents (Years 1 and 2) performed the role of ward attending physicians and academic staff from all three faculties served as mentors. The shift included interprofessional ward rounds, simulated patient records and staged patient events. There was a debriefing session with faculty in the morning prior to students’ departure. The purpose of this article is to present findings from a study of the 2013 event which aimed to investigate students’ under- standing of IPE, how the NMNC affects their perceptions of other professions and how they work together. Methods A non-experimental pre-test–post-test survey design was used for this study. Convenience sampling was used from the IPE event participants. Data collection All nursing, medical and pharmacy students (n ¼ 995) were recruited to both the activity and the study by E-mail invitation. Participation was limited by facility size. Forty-five participants were randomly selected from interested students. The pre-event survey asked questions about preconceived perceptions about IPE. Participants responded to four questions using a 10-point Likert scale (10 ¼ strongly agree), and five open- ended questions regarding their perceptions of the roles of other health professions, expectations for the event, and perceived value of IPE. The post-event survey was E-mailed to participants 1 month after the event. It included four questions using the same Likert scale and seven open-ended questions. The questions were designed to determine whether the event changed percep- tions about professional roles and working with other health professions. Additional targeted questions were asked of the senior students as health care providers and junior students as the standardized patients. A research assistant not involved in the event collated the data. The authors independently evaluated the open-ended questions and then reached consensus regarding emerging themes. Data analysis Survey data was analyzed for descriptive statistics using SPSS software (version 20; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). The open-ended questions were manually coded and analyzed independently by Correspondence: Dr Nicole Harder, RN, PhD, Faculty of Nursing, University of Manitoba, 89 Curry Place, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2N2 Canada. E-mail: nicole.harder@umanitoba.ca