From eye clinic to ER, UMSL simulation teaches teamwork in patient care

From eye clinic to ER, UMSL simulation teaches teamwork in patient care

by Dave Benson | Jul 22, 2026

Patient care is often a collaborative effort, especially during a medical emergency. Through events like the Interprofessional Education simulation, University of Missouri-St. Louis students experience firsthand how their roles intersect as they work together to care for a patient in crisis.

During an exercise on Wednesday in UMSL's simulation lab, optometry and nursing students responded to a patient whose routine eye appointment escalated into a more serious situation. Using the College of Nursing's high-fidelity SimMan 3G Plus simulators, they worked together from the eye clinic to the emergency room, learning how each profession contributes to patient care.

"Rather than working next to each other in silos, students come together as a team with a shared goal," said Liz Gavin, director of the simulation lab and assistant teaching professor in the College of Nursing "They learn what each profession does, where their roles overlap and how to manage those scenarios as a team."

For the third-year optometry students, the exercise offered an invaluable opportunity to experience this type of interdisciplinary simulation. Their patient arrived expecting a routine eye exam but instead showed signs of dangerously high blood pressure, forcing the future optometrists to shift their focus from vision care to a potentially life-threatening medical emergency.

The students began by evaluating a standardized patient in an eye clinic before accompanying the patient to a simulated emergency department, where they worked alongside nursing students in the Accelerated BSN Program caring for the same patient. The continuity allowed both groups to see how information gathered in one setting shapes treatment decisions in the next.

"We see patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure fairly commonly in our clinic, and then we're suddenly dealing with that and kind of putting the eye exam on the back burner," said Dr. Casey Peterson, associate clinical professor, chief of primary care service and coordinator of interprofessional education in the College of Optometry. "I wanted our students to see the next piece that we don't normally get to witness. Once we refer a patient to the emergency room, what happens next? This gives them a chance to understand nursing's role while also building the communication skills they'll use throughout their careers."

For optometry student Amna Syed, the experience reinforced the importance of looking beyond a patient's initial complaint.

"We learned that you have to be really thorough," Syed said. "Patients might not realize something is wrong or think it's important enough to mention. It's our job to ask the right questions, explain what we're seeing and communicate those findings not only to the patient but also to the nurses."

That communication proved especially valuable because each profession approaches the patient from a different perspective. Optometry students explained the significance of changes they observed during the eye exam, while nursing students used that information to continue caring for the patient in the emergency room.

"I've done several simulations through nursing school, but this one was one of the most interactive because we had another profession involved," nursing student Wumi Adekunle said. "It was nice hearing the optometry perspective and discussing together what the best plan of care would be. That's what happens in real life."

The realistic nature of the simulation also challenged students to think on their feet. A live standardized patient portrayed the individual during the clinic visit before providing the voice for the SimMan manikin in the emergency room, allowing students to continue interacting with the same patient throughout the scenario.

Peterson said that approach gives students an experience that classroom discussions simply cannot replicate.

"It's different when you're actually in the situation, having a real person talking back to you and saying, 'No, I'm not paying for that, I don't want to go to the ER,'" Peterson said. "Students have to think on the spot, and this gives them that experience, forcing them to be in the moment, educate the patient and adapt to how that person responds."

The simulation also gives students a chance to make mistakes in a safe environment before facing similar situations during clinical rotations.

"These are the types of things that we are going to face on a day-to-day basis, and it's important that we get used to being able to educate patients based on what we see," said optometry student Jahnavi Sakhamuri. "Not every patient will react in the same way when you tell them the same thing, and I definitely feel a lot better now about having these harder conversations with patients."

Gavin hopes the program continues to grow by bringing together students from additional health disciplines in future simulations.

"We tried to design a case that could involve almost any health profession," she said. "The clinical details are important, but the biggest lesson is understanding that every profession contributes something different. Students leave realizing they're part of something bigger and that providing the best care means relying on one another's expertise."

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