Interdisciplinary teamwork is becoming essential for the delivery of good integrated healthcare. Through hospital simulations, clinical professors Dede Sparks and Mary Mulvaney are preparing social work students to operate in teams with peers in nursing, pharmacy, and other health-related professions. During the simulations, student teams respond to mannequins or volunteers posing as patients and presenting a problematic scenario, such as a detox patient seeking medication he does not need or an acute-care patient that only speaks a foreign language. As students collaborate to solve the situation, they think on their feet, draw form each other’s skills and scope of practice, and make critical decisions under pressure.
