# Interprofessional continuing education in health professions – a scoping review of framework conditions, design processes and evaluation designs

## TL;DR

This study reviews how interprofessional continuing education in health professions is designed and evaluated, highlighting gaps in reporting and suggesting improvements.

## Contribution

The study provides a systematic overview of framework conditions, design processes, and evaluation methods in interprofessional continuing education.

## Key findings

- Interprofessional continuing education is mainly used by medical and nursing professionals.
- Courses often occur in acute inpatient settings and focus on disease care and communication.
- Participants typically evaluate the courses, with limited reporting on instructor qualifications.

## Abstract

Little is known about the design of interprofessional continuing education programs and the extent of the professional backgrounds of participants and lecturers, even though this information can be important for planning, implementing and achieving objectives. The aim of this study is therefore to provide a systematic overview of the framework conditions, design processes and evaluation designs of the interprofessional continuing education programs described in these studies.

A scoping review was conducted. A systematic literature search was carried out in the MEDLINE, CINAHL, PROSPERO and ProQuest databases. In addition, relevant, nonindexed journals and grey literature were included and searched manually. The studies were selected on the basis of defined criteria and analysed deductively according to framework conditions and process and outcome criteria on the basis of Freeth and Reeves’ “3P model of learning to collaborate”.

Analysis of the included studies (n=79) revealed that interprofessional continuing education courses are used mainly by members of the medical and nursing professions. Some of the courses are led by interprofessional teams. The pedagogical qualifications of the instructors are rarely reported. Courses often take place in acute inpatient settings as part of emergency simulations. Furthermore, the care of people with certain diseases and communication are addressed relatively frequently. The continuing education courses are evaluated mainly by the participants.

To assess the quality of interprofessional continuing education courses, the framework conditions should also be reported in full. Interprofessional events should increasingly offer cross-setting and cross-sector topics and include the perspective of patients in the evaluation.