Aim This Integrative review aimed to identify the interprofessional education opportunities for undergraduate nursing students on clinical placement and to understand their experiences of undertaking them. Design This study used an Integrative Review design following the process outlined by Whittemore and Knafl (2005) . Data sources Five electronic databases were searched: CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete, ERIC, Web of Science Core Collection and ProQuest Health and Medicine Collection. Review methods The PRISMA principles were used for reporting the review. Quality assessment was undertaken using an adapted version of the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Braun and Clarke's (2020) six-step reflexive thematic analysis approach was adopted to interpret the study characteristics and main themes. Results A total of 32 articles were included in the review. Interprofessional education in clinical placement has variability in lengths of placement, placement settings, and interprofessional education activities. The length of placement and activities were linked to a lack of placement availability and the financial impact on a facility. The three main settings for interprofessional placements were primary health care, residential aged care and rehabilitation wards. Most articles reported the creation of temporary multidisciplinary placements for interprofessional education research. Five main themes were classified during data analysis including: ‘authentic and valuable learning experience’; ‘communication and collaboration’; ‘constraints and challenges’; ‘professional hierarchies’; and ‘professional identity’. Conclusions Student nurses value interprofessional education opportunities and believe they support the development of communication and collaboration skills, their own role perceptions and perceptions of other professions, although professional hierarchies remain a concern. Opportunities for interprofessional education are mainly artificially created for research projects. Research is lacking on actual opportunities or experiences for nursing students in standard clinical placements. Further research is needed on Interprofessional education focusing on the acute setting and the length of time required to support interprofessional education in practice.
Ince et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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