These sims are different! Thematic analysis of interdisciplinary faculty experiences designing virtual simulations

Background: Simulation design teams may lack understanding of effective teamwork processes. For interprofessional teams, the skills needed to work together may not be easy to learn or apply. There is a need to explore the experiences of multidisciplinary members of simulation design teams to advance their practice. A study was designed to explore a multidisciplinary team of nurses, paramedics, business and information technology staff and learning designers’ experiences designing a virtual simulation prototype. Method: Participants contributed their reflections which were analysed thematically. Simulation best practices, design-based methods and constructivism informed the study design and the prototype build. Results: Two themes, facing the reality of task complexities and Learning and adapting to advance the project describe team member experiences and serve to enhance interprofessional teams’ skills for designing virtual simulations. Conclusion: The results illuminate key strategies to benefit interprofessional teams such as encouraging shared meaning and language, being solution-focused and being mindful of teams where one discipline is the majority.