The Role of Interprofessional Education in Training Healthcare Providers for Integrated Healthcare: A Scoping Review

Abstract

BACKGROUND Longer lifespans and growing chronic conditions are driving change in healthcare systems and prompting the shift towards integrated care. These new models of care require new models of learning; interprofessional education and training are identified as key solutions. How IPE supports the development of the current workforce for integrated care remains unclear. PURPOSE The aim of this research is to explore the role of interprofessional education in training current healthcare providers for integrated healthcare. METHOD Guided by the Arksey and O’Malley (2005) methodological framework for scoping reviews, searches were conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE, ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health, and Scholars Portal electronic databases. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied and data from the relevant articles were categorized and reported narratively. RESULTS The analysis of 32 articles highlighted four key themes: (1) IPE is needed as a foundation for working in integrated care; (2) IPE builds competencies for integrated care; (3) IPE acts as a catalyst for improving team functioning and patient care; and (4) IPE generates practice change among disciplines and agencies. CONCLUSIONS IPE plays a unique and important role in training health and social care providers to work in integrated care and can be described metaphorically as “a bridge to integrated care.” Findings offer important implications for continuing IPE and interprofessional practice within integrated models of care.