Factors to consider in planning a tailored undergraduate inter-professional education and collaborative practice curriculum: A scoping review

Abstract

Background: Heath care students need to be practice-ready at qualification. Increased interest in and drive towards

more collaborative practice necessitate consideration of teaching and learning factors unique to learning settings, to plan a tailored interprofessional education and collaborative practice curriculum, based on empirical findings.

Method: The Joanna Briggs Institute’s scoping review methodology guided this study. Eight online databases were searched, with 72 articles included for full review. Charted data, analysed quantitatively, included year, context, study design and population. The four-dimensional curriculum framework model, consisting of future health care needs, interprofessional competencies, methods of teaching and institutional support, directed the deductive analysis.

Results: Interprofessional education is best presented as a tailored curriculum, i.e. fitting the specific institution’s needs, based on formal rather than a voluntary participation and presented longitudinally. Buy-in from institutional management assists in overcoming barriers related to resourcing and staff participation.

Conclusion: Successful interprofessional education and collaborative practice curricula are dependent on an interplay ofvarious factors such as specific professions involved, future healthcare needs of the country, expected capabilities and competencies of graduates, content and teaching methods, and available resources. Facilitators, as well as policymakers

of academic and clinical institutions, could benefit from the synthesized evidence.