Interprofessional education in undergraduate courses in health in Brazil: integrative review

ABSTRACT

This integrative review aimed to synthesize the evidence regarding interprofessional education (IPE) in undergraduate health courses in Brazil. This article included original articles published between 2005 and 2020 addressing IPE in undergraduate health courses in Brazilian higher education institutions. Our search captured 333 articles in Medline, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase (Elsevier), Web Of Science (Main Collection), Scopus (Elsevier), Science Direct (Elsevier), ERIC, and LILACS via BVS. After applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria, the study corpus covered 34 original manuscripts. It was identified that a network is developed at the national level, and with international support, supports discussions and research on IPE. However, there is a concentration of partnerships between researchers from the Northeast, Southeast and South regions, with the need to expand studies on the country’s experiences in the North and Midwest regions. There is also consistent publication of experiences concerning the implementation of IPE in undergraduate healthcare courses in Brazil. However, the uniprofessional characteristics and the lack of uniformity in the curricula are still significant, which represent essential obstacles to further IPE strengthening in Brazil. In the Brazilian literature, there is a dearth of longitudinal studies and mixed methods that assess changes in organizational practices. There remains a need for IPE studies with more rigorous designs to generate more impactful evidence.

KEYWORDS:

• Integrative review
• interprofessional education
• undergraduate

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Patrícia Soares

Patrícia Soares is a nurse and adjunct professor at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). Member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS) and Member of the Executive Board of the Brazilian Network of Interprofessional Health Education and Work (ReBETIS).

Andrea Ribeiro da Costa

Andrea Ribeiro da Costa is a nurse and adjunct professor at the Faculty of Nursing of the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). She is the coordinator of the Monitoring Project at the Institute of Health Sciences/UFPA and a member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS).

Lucilene Martorelli Petin Ortiz Medeiros

Lucilene Martorelli Petin Ortiz Medeiros is a psychologist and lecturer in Medicine, Nursing, Physiotherapy and Law at the Metropolitan University of Santos. She is a member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS).

Geovannia Santos

Geovannia Santos is a psychologist at the Federal University of São Paulo, a member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS) and Preceptor of the Multiprofessional Residency Programs in Mental Health. PhD in progress at the Health and Society Institute, Unifesp.

Gabriele Carlomagno

Gabriele Carlomagno is a nurse at the Federal University of Paraná, a member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS) and a member of the Student Committee of the Centre for the Advancement of Interprofessional Education in England (CAIPE). PhD in progress at Florence Nightingale Faculty. King's College London, England.

Nildo Alves Batista

Nildo Alves Batista is a doctor and full professor at the Federal University of São Paulo, a CNPq productivity researcher and carries out teaching and research activities in the areas of health curriculum and interprofessional education. He was the creator of the proposal for undergraduate health courses at UNIFESP's Baixada Santista Campus based on IPE. He is the leader of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group (GPEIS) at UNIFESP-BS.

Sylvia Helena Batista

Sylvia Helena Batista is an associate professor IV at the Federal University of São Paulo, a CNPQ productivity researcher, General Coordinator of the Brazilian Network of Interprofessional Health Education and Work (ReBETIS) and coordinator of the Center for the Development of Higher Education in Health (CEDESS/Unifesp). She is a member of the Interprofessional Health Education Research Group at UNIFESP-BS (GPEIS). She develops teaching and research activities in the areas of teacher training in health and interprofessional education.