Clinical-based Interprofessional Education for Pre-licensure Nursing Students: A Systematic Review of Literature

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) is an essential component of pre-licensure nursing education. It allows students to learn from and collaborate with health professionals from different disciplines and prepares them for clinical practice. The aim of this review is to identify best practices in clinical-based IPE for pre-licensure nursing students, describe the context in which clinical-based IPE activities are held, and explore methods of evaluating clinical-based IPE courses and events.
Design: We searched three scientific databases (Embase, CINAHL, and PubMed) using terms related to interprofessional education, pre-licensure nursing students, and clinical rotations. Identified articles were assessed by at least two reviewers. Studies were included if they targeted pre-licensure nursing students in the United States, evaluated clinical-based IPE activities, and included a pre/post quantitative evaluation of student outcomes. This study employed framework analysis to examine which domains of IPE each reported activity addressed. The PRISMA guidelines were followed in the reporting of results.
Results: Eighteen studies were included. All studies reported improved interdisciplinary outcomes from pre to post-test, 8 (44.4%), global improvements in all domains of the chosen outcome measures, and 10 (66.7%), improvements in at least one domain, item, or sub-scale. No studies reported negative results. All reported IPE activities addressed the Teams and Teamwork domain, 13 (72.2%) addressed the Communication domain, 10 (55.6%) addressed the Roles and Responsibilities domain, and 8 (44.4%) addressed the Values and Ethics domain. Five (27.8%) activities addressed all four IPEC competency domains.
Conclusion: Evidence shows that clinical-based interprofessional education improves nursing student outcomes, better preparing them to enter the workforce, collaborate with other professions, and deliver high-quality patient care.
Reflections: Despite the evidence showing the benefits of clinical-based IPE for prelicensure nursing students, most activities are not captured or evaluated in the published literature. This highlights the need to expand clinical-based IPE offerings for pre-licensure nursing students and publish their evaluation results, so clinical-based IPE becomes standard in nursing curricula throughout the country.