Describing the evidence linking interprofessional education interventions to improving the delivery of safe and effective patient care: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Empirical evidence indicates that collaborative interprofessional practice leads to positive health outcomes. Further, there is an abundance of evidence examining student and/or faculty perceptions of learning or satisfaction about the interprofessional education (IPE) learning experience. However, there is a dearth of research linking IPE interventions to patient outcomes. The objective of this scoping review was to describe and summarize the evidence linking IPE interventions to the delivery of effective patient care. A three-step search strategy was utilized for this review with articles that met the following criteria: publications dated 2015–2020 using qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods; the inclusion of healthcare professionals, students, or practitioners who had experienced IPE or training that included at least two collaborators within coursework or other professional education; and at least one of ten Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services quality measures (length of stay, medication errors, medical errors, patient satisfaction scores, medication adherence, patient and caregiver education, hospice usage, mortality, infection rates, and readmission rates). Overall, n=94 articles were identified, providing overwhelming evidence supporting a positive relationship between IPE interventions and several key quality health measures including length of stay, medical errors, patient satisfaction, patient or caregiver education, and mortality. Findings from this scoping review suggest a critical need for the development, implementation, and evaluation of IPE interventions to improve patient outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Interprofessional education
• students
• interdisciplinary team
• scoping review

Acknowledgments

• Interprofessional Education Collaborative

• Jane Greene Ryan, PhD, CNM, RN, Drexel University

• Erin Lepp, MMSc, PA-C, Mercer University

• Yueping Luo, MSSP/DA, Strategic Research Insights

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial or personal relationships that could appear to influence the work reported in this paper

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/13561820.2023.2283119

Additional information

Funding

For Cadet, this work was supported by the National Institute on Aging [K23 AG062795-04].

Notes on contributors

Tamara Cadet

Tamara J. Cadet is a faculty member and researcher at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy & Practice. Her area of research is in health promotion interventions.

Joseph Cusimano

Joseph Cusimano is a faculty member at the Bernard J. Dunn School of Pharmacy at Shenandoah University. He is a board certified psychiatric pharmacist and practices at Winchester Medical Center’s inpatient Behavioral Health Services.

Shelley McKearney

Shelley McKearney is Associate Director of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative.

Julie Honaker

Julie A. Honaker is the Section Head of Audiology at the Cleveland Clinic. She is a member of the American Speech, Language, Hearing Association. Her research is focused on vestibular and balance disorder.

Cynthia O’Neal

Cynthia O’Neal is a Professor and Associate Dean at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio School of Nursing. She provides leadership on the implementation of interprofessional education for the undergraduate nursing program.

Reza Taheri

Reza Taheri is a faculty at Chapman University School of Pharmacy and part of the interprofessional education team at the University. His research is in the area of communication and leadership development.

Virginia Uhley

Virginia Uhley is an Associate Professor in the Department of Foundational Medical Studies and in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health.

Yingting Zhang

Yingting Zhang is a faculty member and the Research Services Librarian at the Robert Wood Johnson Library of the Health Sciences Library at Rutgers University.

Margaret Dreker

Margaret Dreker is the Medical Librarian and Liaison to the Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine at Seton Hall University.

Judith S. Cohn

Judith S. Cohn is the former Assistant Vice President and Director of Health Sciences Libraries at Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey. She served as the representative to the Interprofessional Education Collaborative from the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries.