Sustainability of Interprofessional Education: a scoping review protocol (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Interprofessional education (IPE) is an approach that can improve healthcare quality, contribute to the qualification of healthcare professionals, and train undergraduate students. Although this strategy has made significant progress in the last decade, integration, sustainability, and institutional growth are still priorities worldwide. Thus, maintaining strategies is essential for their full development and evolution. OBJECTIVE Identify discussions about the sustainability of interprofessional education and map its actions or strategies (or both). METHODS The scoping review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology. Two independent and blind reviewers will evaluate and select studies available in English, Portuguese, based on the eligibility criteria. Searches will be conducted on LILACS, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PUBMED/MEDLINE, ERIC, Web of Science, CINAHL, Google Scholar databases; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, and Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations. This scoping review will incorporate studies (empirical or theoretical-reflective) that address strategies and actions (or both) for IPE sustainability. They must present a quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods approach and be available in full text. Data on strategies or actions for IPE sustainability will be extracted and inserted into a spreadsheet for analysis; then, the main results will be presented in tables. RESULTS This protocol will guide this scoping review to identify discussions on the sustainability of interprofessional education and map its actions or strategies (or both). In addition, possible research gaps can be identified to guide future studies. This review will shed light on existing knowledge gaps and the current state of research, which could provide support for future research, programs, and policy responses to foster collaboration and interprofessional practice and, consequently, improve the quality of user care. CONCLUSIONS This study protocol introduces the main methodological steps that will be followed, so that it may be hoped that this review will summarize the main strategies and/or actions for IPE sustainability, the definitions and institutions that develop or promote IPE, as well as the main recommendations for the area under study. This information will be useful in supporting decision-making by government officials, managers, teachers, facilitators and students in the implementation, maintenance, and development of IPE.