Learning with and from each other: promoting international and interprofessional collaborations in physiotherapy education research – a literature review

Background: Best practice in physical therapy education requires good quality and quantity of research based on authentic learning settings and teaching practices. Facilitating large multisite research and large data sets for analysis has the potential to contribute to a strong research base. Clinical research makes use of international and interprofessional consortiums to produce quantity and quality of research outcomes.

Objectives: The paper aimed to investigate international and interprofessional co-authorship in educational research in a single journal and describe two collaborative models. Methods: The paper has two sections. (1) A review of co-authorship in 113 papers published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Education over a three and a half year period (2014 to 2017). (2) Two models of collaboration in educational research are described.

Results: The literature review highlighted a pattern of almost no international collaborations but close to 27% of papers with interprofessional collaborations. Two collaborative models were presented, one an international and intraprofessional model and the second an international and interprofessional research approach.

Conclusions: It is argued that creating consortiums with international and interprofessional health professionals will progress the quality of educational research in physical therapy, assisting with our educational decision-making and further improving on our learning and teaching practices.     

Teaching interprofessional teamwork skills to health professional students: A scoping review

An expanding body of literature is examining interprofessional teamwork and its effect in healthcare. To produce capable healthcare professionals prepared to participate in interprofessional roles, teamwork training must begin early in health professional students’ training. The focus of this scoping review was to explore interprofessional education (IPE) studies designed to teach and/or assess interprofessional teamwork skills to students from two or more different health professions, to find and describe effective pedagogy and assessment strategies. Using a scoping review methodology, 1,106 abstracts were reviewed by three teams of investigators. Eligibility criteria were inclusion of students in interprofessional teams, an intervention to improve interprofessional teamwork skills and assessment of outcomes related to teamwork. Thirty-three studies met the criteria for inclusion. The literature was varied in terms of study design, teaching methods and assessment measures for interprofessional teamwork. The lack of rigorous, comparable studies in this area makes recommending one teaching method or assessment measure over another difficult. Regardless of teaching method, it appears that most learning activities where interprofessional teams interact result in positive changes in student perceptions and attitudes towards IPE and practice. As health education programs seek to incorporate more interprofessional activities into their respective programs, it is important to review methods and measures that would best fit their individual program. This review highlights the importance of standardising the reporting of methods and outcomes for those who wish to incorporate the studied methods into their curricula.     

Enhancing global health and education in Malawi,Zambia, and the United States through an interprofessional global health exchange program

AimThis article describes participant outcomes of an interprofessional collaboration between health professionals and faculty in Malawi, Zambia, and the United States (US).BackgroundOne strategy critical for improving global health and addressing Millennium Development goals is promotion of interprofessional education and collaboration.MethodsProgram participants included 25 health professionals from Malawi and Zambia, and 19 faculty/health professionals from Alabama and California. African Fellows participated in a 2 week workshop on Interprofessional Education in Alabama followed by 2 weeks working on individual goals with faculty collaborators/mentors. The US Fellows also spent 2 weeks visiting their counterparts in Malawi and Zambia to develop plans for sustainable partnerships.Results/ConclusionsProgram evaluations demonstrated participants' satisfaction with the program and indicated that the program promoted interprofessional and cross-cultural understanding; fostered development of long-term sustainable partnerships between health professionals and educators in Zambia and the US; and created increased awareness and use of resources for global health education.     

The experiences and needs of healthcare professionals facing perinatal death: A scoping review

BackgroundGlobally, perinatal death is on a decline. However, its impact on the healthcare profession is huge. The existing literature focuses on examining perinatal death from parents’ perspectives and patient death from the perspectives of nurses and a few doctors in critical care, oncology, and neonatology in the West. Due to the unique setting of maternity units where death is not routinely anticipated, as well as distinctive socio-cultural views surrounding death, there is a need to comprehensively review literature examining the impact of perinatal death on the perspectives of healthcare professionals working in maternity units.ObjectivesTo examine available literature on the needs and experiences of healthcare professionals working in maternity units who have experienced perinatal death.DesignA scoping review of published and unpublished data.Data sourcesA systematic literature search from 1st January 1996 to 5th August 2016 was made in the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and Web of Science. Cochrane Library, Joanna Briggs Institute Library of Systematic Reviews, York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, Open Grey, ProQuest Dissertation and Theses, and Mednar were reviewed for grey literature. A hand search of the reference lists of the included papers was performed.Review methodsBased on the pre-set inclusion criteria, 1519 articles were screened for their titles and abstracts. Eighty-five full-text papers were reviewed, resulting in 30 papers included for this review. The data were extracted and cross-checked between the reviewers. Any discrepancy between the authors’ views would be discussed with a third reviewer until consensus was reached. Thematic analysis was used to categorise the results into themes.ResultsTwo major themes emerged from the review: the experiences and needs of healthcare professionals. Six subthemes emerged from the experiences of healthcare professionals: 1) psychological impact, 2) physical impact, 3) positive feelings, 4) coping strategies, 5) personal factors influencing the experience, and 6) cultural factors influencing the experience. Three subthemes including 1) social support, 2) training and education, and 3) other needs explained the needs of healthcare professionals. Studies focusing on the experiences and needs of physicians were scarce.ConclusionsPerinatal death has a profound impact on the psychological and physical wellbeing of healthcare professionals. They have unmet needs that need to be addressed. Though they use internal and external resources to combat their stress, institutional support acknowledging their stress and their needs is essential. Culturally-sensitive education and training are needed to provide support to these professionals.     

HIV and rehabilitation: development of a conceptual framework for curriculum planning

The overall purpose of this paper is to present the development of a conceptual framework of existing HIV curricula and educational resources on to inform future curriculum planning for the education of rehabilitation professionals on rehabilitation in the context of HIV/AIDS. We conducted a scoping review of the literature from 1980 onwards to identify existing HIV curricula and resources used with current or future health professionals. Preliminary findings were reviewed with a national Advisory Committee and a framework was developed to inform future curriculum planning. The Conceptual Framework of Existing HIV Curricula for Health Professionals classified curricula based on whether it was interprofessional or uniprofessional, and targeted to rehabilitation professionals or more broadly included other health professionals. This framework consisted of four intersecting components that represented different types of curricula: (a) interprofessional HIV curricula specific to rehabilitation professionals, (b) uniprofessional HIV curricula specific to rehabilitation professionals, (c) interprofessional HIV curricula for health professionals, and (d) uniprofessional HIV curricula for health professionals. Evidence from the framework suggested that an interprofessional HIV curriculum designed for rehabilitation professionals may be an ideal model from which to build future HIV rehabilitation curricula. In summary, a range of HIV curricula exist that vary in the type of educational approach and the range of health professionals targeted. Future development, implementation, and evaluation of an interprofessional education curriculum will help to increase knowledge and capacity among current and future rehabilitation professionals so that they may better meet the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in Canada.     

Professional identity in interprofessional teams: findings from a scoping review

Integrated care has been identified as being fundamental to health and social care reforms. How this interprofessional working impacts on professional identity is unclear. There is a lack of reviews synthesising this growing body of literature. It is therefore timely to conduct a scoping study of the literature which explores the intersection between interprofessional care and professional identity. The aim of this study is to identify the factors that impact on professional identity when working in interprofessional teams. A scoping review was conducted; Business Source Complete (EBSCO); CINAHL; Proquest; Medline; Scopus; and Cochrane Reviews (January 1980 to July 2018) were systematically searched for studies focusing on professional identity and interprofessional teams. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were identified and applied, data were charted, and a synthesis of the narrative was conducted. Sixteen papers are identified as central to this scoping review. Analysis of the papers highlights three key areas of interest: the creation of professional identity; challenges and barriers to professional identity; and implications for leadership and management. The significance of this review is considered along with an agenda for future research. Expanding the research to include more empirical studies to consider areas such as the value of interprofessional education programmes and to include the voice of those professionals no longer working or choosing not to work in an interprofessional care setting should also feature within future research.     

Collaborative practice in counselling: a scoping review

ABSTRACT

Collaborative care (interdisciplinary/interprofessional teamwork) in mental health is emerging as best practice in primary care, hospitals, and government agencies. Counsellors have much to offer and benefit from working with other professions in service of their clients. While most health professions are well on their way integrating collaborating with one another in practice, it is yet unclear how often, and in what ways, counsellors are included in these teams. This scoping review of the literature on collaborative practice in counselling addresses the question: “What is the role of Professional Counselling and Clinical/Counselling Psychology in a collaborative model of mental health care?” This scoping review looks at 40 studies published between 2012 and 2015. Counsellors are often included on multidisciplinary teams in diverse roles. Specific collaborative activities are discussed along with ethical and educational implications.     

A Scoping Review of Nursing's Contribution to the Management of Patients with Pain and Opioid Misuse

BackgroundNursing brings a unique lens to care of patients with pain and opioid misuse.AimsThis scoping review describes nursing's contribution to the literature on the management of patients with pain and opioid misuse, generating evidence to guide clinical care.DesignThe scoping review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews guideline.Data SourcesUsing combined key terms (“opioid misuse,” “pain,” “nursing”) in systematic searches in PubMed and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) electronic databases, snowball technique, and personal knowledge resulted in 108 relevant articles, reports, and websites.Analysis MethodSummative approach to content analysis was used to quantify and describe nursing's contribution to the literature.ResultsContributions of nurses emerged in the areas of research, clinical practice, policy, and education. The highest number of publications addressed research (50%, 54 of 108), whereas the fewest number of publications involved education (7%, 8 of 108).ConclusionResults provide a picture of the breadth of expertise and crucial leadership that nurses contribute to influence management of patients with pain and opioid misuse.Implications for NursingThis scoping review indicates the importance of continued support from key stakeholders, including training and interprofessional collaboration opportunities supported by the National Institutes of Health, to sustain nursing's contribution to quality care of patients with pain and opioid misuse. Ultimately, all health care professionals must collaborate to conduct rigorous research and construct evidence-based guidelines to inform policy initiatives and education strategies to solve the complex co-occurring epidemics of pain and opioid misuse.     

An innovative interprofessional education model to engage community and nonclinical participants

Abstract

Many institutions and individuals are encouraging use of interprofessional educational models to prepare future health care professionals who can effectively address complex healthcare needs in a dynamic healthcare environment. This report describes a seven-step model to plan and implement university-based interprofessional healthcare education. The model is unique in that it incorporates faculty and students from both clinical and nonclinical professional programs, administrators, as well as community partners into the interprofessional healthcare education deliberation and implementation process. It also incorporates many guiding principles for planning and implementing interprofessional education discussed in the literature.     

Mental health education programmes for generalist health professionals: An integrative review

Mainstreaming of mental health services has led to an increase in the presentation and care of mental health patients in generalist health settings. The lack of adequate mental health educational preparation of general health professionals (GHP) has been identified as a major barrier to meeting the health-care needs of mental health patients. This study aimed to review and synthesize research evidence on mental health education programmes (MHEP) that have been designed to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of GHP. An integrative literature review was conducted following a search of key electronic databases and hand searching of references of relevant papers, and 25 papers met the study inclusion criteria. Knowledge, skill, and attitudinal improvements in GHP post MHEP were shown in most studies. MHEP that included supervised clinical experience, role play, and case scenarios were reported as being more effective. Issues such as patient participation in education, interprofessional education models, and the willingness, interest and, motivation for GHP to be involved in MHEP warrant further research.     

Health visitor education for today's Britain: Messages from a narrative review of the health visitor literature

ObjectivesThis paper draws on a narrative review of the literature, commissioned to support the Health Visitor Implementation Plan, and aimed at identifying messages about the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed by health visitors to work within the current system of health care provision.DesignThe scoping study and narrative review used three complementary approaches: a broad search, a structured search, and a seminal paper search to identify empirical papers from the health visitor literature for review. The key inclusion criteria were messages of relevance for practice.Data Sources378 papers were reviewed. These included empirical papers from the United Kingdom (UK) from 2004 to February 2012, older research identified in the seminal paper search and international literature from 2000 to January 2016.Review MethodsThe review papers were read by members of the multidisciplinary research team which included health visitor academics, social scientists, and a clinical psychologist managed the international literature. Thematic content analysis was used to identify main messages. These were tabulated and shared between researchers in order to compare emergent findings and to confirm dominant themes.ResultsThe analysis identified an ‘orientation to practice’ based on salutogenesis (health creation), human valuing (person-centred care), and viewing the person in situation (human ecology) as the aspirational core of health visitors' work. This was realised through home visiting, needs assessment, and relationship formation at different levels of service provision. A wide range of knowledge, skills, and abilities were required, including knowledge of health as a process and skills in engagement, building trust, and making professional judgments. These are currently difficult to impart within a 45 week health visitor programme and are facilitated through ad hoc post-registration education and training. The international literature reported both similarities and differences between the working practices of health visitors in the UK and public health nurses worldwide. Challenges related to the education of each were identified.ConclusionsThe breadth and scope of knowledge, skills, and abilities required by health visitors make a review of current educational provision desirable. Three potential models for health visitor education are described.     

Mental health research studies in Saudi Arabia for the years 2009–2019; a systematic scoping review

BackgroundAn updated systematic scoping review and narrative analysis of all possible mental health studies done during the concerned immediate years clarifies its present condition and status for all professionals, and concerned researchers.AimsTo synthesize published mental health research studies in and for Saudi Arabia for the years 2009–2019 with the confidence to evaluate current situation, identify research gaps and limitations (if any), and assist in conceptualizing the forthcoming directions of future mental health research activities.MethodsScoping systematic review and modified narrative analysis were the methods utilized to achieve the aim and objective set for this formal academic endeavor.ResultsOf the 1006 published studies identified from chosen databases, a total of 241 papers were included and had passed the stringent criteria set for the scoping review process. Basic characteristics of the reviewed studies were quantitative survey type with about 101–500 size range of respondents, utilizing non-patients and adults for participants which were common and randomly chosen from selected population, and most research activities were self-funded. Four major research themes were found including a list of research limitations.ConclusionsThis systematic scoping review identified a wide range of results characterizing the different studies that qualified using pre-determined inclusion-exclusion criteria. Though of increasing publication volume in the past decade, most researches done were quantitative survey type whose themes seemed to show no drastic difference or change from the previous years of output. More variety in research themes would further improve the over-all quality of mental health publications.     

Making organizational change to achieve improvement and interprofessional learning: perspectives from health professions educators

Health professionals must learn to work in the context of an interdisciplinary team in order to meet the needs of the evolving health care delivery system. These teams must work successfully with community systems to achieve common goals, while understanding and respecting diverse perspectives, experiences and skills. Strategies for changing health professions education to prepare new health professionals for such work have been tested by the Interdisciplinary Professional Education Collaborative. Illustrations of making educational change, and creating situations to sustain the change, are offered from the Collaborative's experience. Teams participating in the Collaborative engaged in interprofessional education, working on community-based health improvement issues. The illustrations are offered in the context of higher education, and the many barriers to making change that must be overcome. The work of the Collaborative provides valuable illustrations of successful activities to promote and create change, and ultimately to achieve improvement and interprofessional learning, better preparing new health professionals for the health systems in which they will work.     

The global emergence of IPE and collaborative care

Abstract

As the United States faces an impending shortage in the primary care workforce, interprofessional teamwork training to improve clinic efficiency and health outcomes is becoming increasingly important. Currently there is limited integration of interprofessional training in educational models for health professionals. The implementation of Patient Aligned Care Teams at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has provided an opportunity for interprofessional collaboration among trainee and faculty providers within the VA system. However, integration of interprofessional education is also necessary to train future providers in order to provide effective team-based care. We describe a transportable educational model for health professional collaboration from our experience as a VA Center of Excellence in Primary Care Education, including a complementary novel one-year post-Master’s adult nurse practitioner interprofessional clinical fellowship. With growing recognition that interprofessional care can improve efficiency and outcomes, there is an increasing need for programs that train future providers in collaboration and team-based care.     

Interprofessional education and service learning: a model for the future of health professions education

Abstract

The implementation of interprofessional education for healthcare professionals has been lackluster, at best, since it was recommended by the Institute of Medicine. There have been various attempts in institutions of higher learning to meet this goal with mixed results. Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University has developed the Green Family NeighborhoodHELP? (GFNHelp) program to meet this challenge. GFNHelp is an interprofessional, longitudinal, service-learning program for healthcare students. Through participation in this program medical students team up with students from other professions, such as nursing, social work, and law, and collaborate to improve health outcomes for medically underserved families in the community. This educational program emphasizes the Core Competencies of the Interprofessional Education Collaborative through community-based service-learning, allowing student teams to engage firsthand and address the impact of social determinants on health.     

The potential advantages and disadvantages of introducing interprofessional education into the healthcare curricula in Spain

The complexity of contemporary clinical practice demands that increasingly skilled high quality health and social care is provided to individuals. However, the failure of health and social care professionals to work collaboratively has been widely reported in the international literature. Hence, interprofessional education has been suggested as a means of improving both interprofessional understanding and respect across a diverse range of practice disciplines. In this way, functional barriers can be challenged or broken down; teamwork enhanced and healthcare outcomes improved. Lack of conclusive evidence to substantiate the above healthcare benefits has been attributed to weak methodological approaches when evaluating such educational initiatives. In Spain barriers to implementing interprofessional education are potentially less challenging. Recent legislative demands following the Bologna Agreement on European Higher Education is compelling Spanish higher education institutes to engage in radical educational reforms. Consequently, this paper examines some of the advantages and disadvantages of introducing interprofessional education into health and social care curricula in Spain to see when and how interprofessional initiatives might be assimilated into the health care curricula. In this way lessons learned from a thorough review of the relevant literature might help to inform such educational reforms across mainland Europe and beyond.     

Interprofessional collaboration in mental health crisis response systems: a scoping review

Abstract

Post deinstitutionalization saw the rise of mental health crisis (MHC) response in Canada. First points of contact for individuals in a MHC are often police services or emergency departments. Professionals in these areas may report feeling unprepared, ill equipped, and a lack of confidence to work with clients in crisis. Police indicate that this work is time consuming, demanding, and “not their job”. Entry points can exacerbate the crisis given the chaotic, over-stimulating and frightening environment of emergency departments and the perceived threat of police officers. Despite the outcry of support for working more collaboratively, little is known about the impact Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) has in mental health crisis response systems (MHCRS). Purpose: Given this challenge, the aim of this scoping review is to contribute to understanding the current state of knowledge related to IPC in MHCRS. Methods: A scoping reviews was conducted to address the research topic. Results: Review of the literature identified 18 articles for inclusion, 5 experimental or exploratory papers, 7 models of care, and 6 discussion papers. Analysis identified the following themes: Support for interprofessional collaboration, quest for improved care delivery system, merging distinct visions of care, and challenges to interprofessional collaboration. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed, as well as issues in the literature related to: Lack of conceptual clarity, absent client perspectives, unequal representation across sectors, and a young and emergent body of literature. Conclusion: Key concepts need better conceptualization, and further empirical research is needed.

• Implications for Rehabilitation

• Conceptualizing mental health crisis (MHC) response as occurring within a system of services, rather than independent sectors, is critical to meeting the needs of clients.

• Purposefully built in mechanisms to sustain collaboration across care teams and services are required.

• Merging the distinct, and at times conflicting, visions of care espoused by the diverse sectors involved in MHC response requires deliberate effort.

     

Interprofessional socialization as a way to introduce collaborative competencies to first-year health science students

Abstract

Interprofessional education (IPE) is the cornerstone of preparing future health care providers but remains to be a challenge for many health science programs. We aimed to develop and evaluate an interprofessional conference for first-year health science students with goals to provide students with interprofessional socialization opportunity and introduce IPE principles. A half-day conference was based upon core competencies for health professionals and involved 277 first-year health sciences, nursing, pharmacy, physical therapy, and speech language pathology and audiology students. Alcohol and substance misuse was chosen as a topic for its relevance to college students and health professionals. Results from program evaluation revealed that the conference was successful in exposing students to core interprofessional competencies and provided useful information about alcohol and substance misuse. This study advocates for early inclusion of IPE in the health professions curricula in the form of interprofessional socialization.     

Effectiveness of female genital mutilation/cutting education for health professionals: An integrative review

IntroductionA plethora of research has identified the lack of educational opportunities for health professionals to support the biopsychosocial and cultural needs of women who have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). As a result, some women with FGM/C can feel unsupported, discriminated against and fear to communicate their concerns with health providers. The aim of this review is to identify studies that have investigated the effectiveness of FGM/C education for health professionals.MethodToronto and Remington’s six-step framework for conducting an integrative literature review was used to identify studies that met the inclusion criteria. Searches were conducted across five primary databases and grey literature, between August and October 2021. The Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tools for quasi-experimental studies was used to critically appraise included studies. The findings of the search were reported using preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis.ResultsA total of five studies met the criteria for inclusion. Studies examined education provided to midwives, nurses, obstetricians, gynaecologists, psychosexual counsellors and student nurses, from England, USA, Mali and Kenya. All studies demonstrated that the implementation of FGM/C education was effective in improving learning outcomes (knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy), However, the quality rating of the evidence ranged from very low to moderate and limited inferential analysis reported.ConclusionThis review confirms that FGM/C education, which is informed by evidence and developed in collaboration with practicing communities, is an effective way of improving FGM/C knowledge and attitudes among health professionals.Study RegistrationOpen Science Framework Register 10.17605/OSF.IO/SMJHX.     

Interprofessional education as a method to address health needs in a Hispanic community setting: A pilot study

Abstract

The Hispanic population in and around Richmond, Virginia, USA, has grown rapidly since 2000. The Richmond City Latino Needs Assessment emphasized this growth and also reported concerns regarding healthcare access. Schools of medicine, pharmacy, and nursing at Virginia Commonwealth University have partnered together with community organizations to develop and implement an interprofessional student service learning pilot program to meet community needs and provide an opportunity for enhanced learning. Community events allowed students to work on interprofessional teams to provide healthcare screenings and education to the Hispanic community. The program was evaluated by the use of a community service survey. Results indicated improved perceptions of student comfort with working with diverse patients, working on teams, and patient-centered care, as well as statistically significant improvements in student understanding of health care access and barriers, community needs, and social determinants of health. Results suggest that this community-based service-learning interprofessional experience was critical in student learning.