OT and nursing students collaborate at clinical readiness IPE event

Nov. 12, 2025 — DENTON — Texas Woman’s second-year occupational therapy students and senior nursing students collaborated on a dynamic, hands-on learning interprofessional event at the TWU Dallas campus on October 9. 

OT faculty members Linda Barnett (associate clinical professor) and Gretchen Johnson (assistant clinical professor), along with nursing faculty members Lori Aaron-Brija (assistant clinical professor) and Emily Berkowitz (assistant professor) developed and facilitated the Dallas clinical readiness event for their students to move beyond the classroom and practice essential clinical skills through complex case studies, promoting critical teamwork and holistic patient care.

The event transformed a simulated TWU hospital setting into a realistic clinical environment. Four complex neurological case studies were utilized, including patients with conditions such as CVA (stroke), traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. To heighten the realism, the scenarios incorporated medically complex details like varying contact precautions, indwelling catheters, oxygen needs, wound vacs and spinal precautions.

The collaboration emphasized the interdisciplinary roles necessary for comprehensive patient management. OT students practiced core skills by completing and observing a 30-minute treatment session focused on functional tasks and therapeutic interventions for an assigned patient case study. Nursing students stepped into multiple roles, serving as the staff nurses managing the medical complexity and, importantly, acting as the patients and caregivers the OT students were treating. This allowed them to experience patient care from both the provider's and the patient's perspective.

This unique training opportunity fostered a deeper understanding of each profession’s contribution to recovery. By simulating real-world challenges — such as coordinating care around medical precautions and managing complex patient needs, students gained valuable insights into interprofessional collaboration, communication and safety. This clinical event sets a new standard for collaborative education and helps prepare future clinicians to work effectively as a unified healthcare team.

This is the second semester that this clinical readiness IPE event has been offered. This IPE experience evolved from an OT fieldwork bootcamp, which was created to prepare second-year graduate students before they begin their fieldwork II rotations.