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ABSTRACT
Several recent high-quality systematic reviews have identified the importance of measuring outcomes in evaluating the effectiveness of interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare, but also the process- and context-dependent nature of these outcomes. This paper presents a scoping review, the objectives of which were to evaluate the evidence for the long-term impact of undergraduate IPE on graduate interprofessional practice (IPP) and to identify areas for further research in the specific context of practice-based IPE. An initial search identified 596 potentially relevant titles published between 2008 and 2016. Screening for inclusion of documented IPE with IPP evaluation reduced this to 130. Abstract reading excluded 99 studies that were not longitudinal. Full reading of the remaining 31 articles identified 23 original studies which were analysed descriptively and tabulated. The main findings were synthesised around three themes: undergraduate evidence for a long-term impact of IPE on IPP; graduate evidence for a long-term impact of IPE on IPP; and barriers to an impact of IPE on graduate IPP. Drawing on these findings, research areas likely to produce further evidence for the impact of practice-based IPE on graduate IPP are discussed, along with some suitable methodologies.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the authors of the high-quality reviews and studies on which this review is based, and my colleagues in the clinic-based interprofessional programme run at Auckland University of Technology for their support in the shaping and editing of this review.
Declaration of interest
The author declares no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the writing and content of this article.