A scoping review of interprofessional education in healthcare: evaluating competency development, educational outcomes and challenges

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Abstract

Background

Interprofessional education (IPE) is essential in healthcare to enhance collaboration, communication and teamwork among health professions education students. This review aimed to map out the core competencies health professions education students develop during IPE and identify the positive and negative educational outcomes.

Methods

A comprehensive search strategy was developed and reported in accordance with the PRISMA ScR guidelines. The search was conducted across five electronic databases (Medline, Scopus, Web of Science, PsycINFO and EBSCO) for peer-reviewed articles published in English within the last 20 years. Data was extracted and core competencies were categorised into four defined areas—roles and responsibilities; interprofessional communication; values for interprofessional practice; teams and teamwork. The frequency of occurrence of each core competency, along with the positive and negative outcomes of IPE were analysed. Mixed methods analysis was used to integrate both qualitative and quantitative data.

Results

Team and teamwork emerged as the most frequently attained core competency in IPE. The positive impacts of IPE include significant improvements in role clarity, communication skills, and teamwork dynamics. However, negative impacts were also noted, such as logistical challenges and interpersonal issues like power dynamics and communication barriers, which impeded the personal professional growth and professional interactional skill-related benefits of IPE. Additionally, some participants reported feeling overwhelmed by the extra workload required for IPE activities.

Conclusion

IPE is a valuable component of health professions education, significantly contributing to the development of core competencies necessary for interprofessional collaborative practice. Addressing the challenges and implementing best practices can further enhance the effectiveness of IPE programs, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes. The implications for practice, training of healthcare students and future research are discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-025-06969-3.

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Most cited references 117

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A scoping review of scoping reviews: advancing the approach and enhancing the consistency

Phuong-Mai T Pham, Andrijana Rajić, Judy Greig … (2014)

Background The scoping review has become an increasingly popular approach for synthesizing research evidence. It is a relatively new approach for which a universal study definition or definitive procedure has not been established. The purpose of this scoping review was to provide an overview of scoping reviews in the literature. Methods A scoping review was conducted using the Arksey and O'Malley framework. A search was conducted in four bibliographic databases and the gray literature to identify scoping review studies. Review selection and characterization were performed by two independent reviewers using pretested forms. Results The search identified 344 scoping reviews published from 1999 to October 2012. The reviews varied in terms of purpose, methodology, and detail of reporting. Nearly three-quarter of reviews (74.1%) addressed a health topic. Study completion times varied from 2 weeks to 20 months, and 51% utilized a published methodological framework. Quality assessment of included studies was infrequently performed (22.38%). Conclusions Scoping reviews are a relatively new but increasingly common approach for mapping broad topics. Because of variability in their conduct, there is a need for their methodological standardization to ensure the utility and strength of evidence. © 2014 The Authors. Research Synthesis Methods published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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A hands-on guide to doing content analysis

Christen Erlingsson, Petra Brysiewicz (2017)

There is a growing recognition for the important role played by qualitative research and its usefulness in many fields, including the emergency care context in Africa. Novice qualitative researchers are often daunted by the prospect of qualitative data analysis and thus may experience much difficulty in the data analysis process. Our objective with this manuscript is to provide a practical hands-on example of qualitative content analysis to aid novice qualitative researchers in their task.

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Interprofessional teamwork: professional cultures as barriers.

Pippa Hall (2005)

Each health care profession has a different culture which includes values, beliefs, attitudes, customs and behaviours. Professional cultures evolved as the different professions developed, reflecting historic factors, as well as social class and gender issues. Educational experiences and the socialization process that occur during the training of each health professional reinforce the common values, problem-solving approaches and language/jargon of each profession. Increasing specialization has lead to even further immersion of the learners into the knowledge and culture of their own professional group. These professional cultures contribute to the challenges of effective interprofessional teamwork. Insight into the educational, systemic and personal factors which contribute to the culture of the professions can help guide the development of innovative educational methodologies to improve interprofessional collaborative practice.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Bunmi S. Malau-Aduli: bunmi.malauaduli@newcastle.edu.au

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): BMC Med Educ

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): BMC Med Educ

Title: BMC Medical Education

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1472-6920

Publication date (Electronic): 20 March 2025

Publication date PMC-release: 20 March 2025

Publication date Collection: 2025

Volume: 25

Electronic Location Identifier: 409

Affiliations

[1 ]School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, ( https://ror.org/00eae9z71) Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia

[2 ]Central Coast Local Health District, ( https://ror.org/0423z3467) Gosford, NSW 2250 Australia

[3 ]New South Wales Ambulance, ( https://ror.org/04gqrt415) Rozelle, NSW 2039 Australia

[4 ]Social Policy Research Centre, The University of New South Wales, ( https://ror.org/03r8z3t63) Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia

[5 ]College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University, ( https://ror.org/04gsp2c11) Townsville, QLD 4812 Australia

[6 ]School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, ( https://ror.org/00eae9z71) Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia

[7 ]School of Nursing and Midwifery, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, ( https://ror.org/00eae9z71) Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia

[8 ]School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Technology Sydney, ( https://ror.org/03f0f6041) Ultimo, NSW 2007 Australia

[9 ]Central Coast Local Health District, ( https://ror.org/0423z3467) Wyong, NSW 2259 Australia

[10 ]School of Rural Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of New England, ( https://ror.org/04r659a56) Armidale, NSW 2350 Australia

Article

Publisher ID: 6969

DOI: 10.1186/s12909-025-06969-3

PMC ID: 11924666

SO-VID: 8bcb7544-db49-4bb2-9e63-6b2a1d4ffdbe

License:

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Date received : 1 August 2024

Date accepted : 7 March 2025

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Education

Keywords: core competencies,health professions education,healthcare students,interprofessional communication,interprofessional learning,roles and responsibilities,teamwork,values for interprofessional practice

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Education

Keywords: core competencies, health professions education, healthcare students, interprofessional communication, interprofessional learning, roles and responsibilities, teamwork, values for interprofessional practice

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A scoping review of interprofessional education in healthcare: evaluating competency development, educational outcomes and challenges

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Abstract

Background

Methods

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Conclusion

Supplementary Information

Related collections

Educational Challenges

Most cited references 117

A scoping review of scoping reviews: advancing the approach and enhancing the consistency

A hands-on guide to doing content analysis

Interprofessional teamwork: professional cultures as barriers.

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