Shaping collaborative practice: a qualitative case study of educators’ experiences in integrated interprofessional education

Abstract

Background: Preparing a collaboration-ready health and social care workforce capable of delivering high-quality, patient-, client-, family-, and community-centred care requires the integration of interprofessional education (IPE) into pre-licensure curricula. Such a curriculum employs experiential and situated learning approaches to engage students in progressively complex, real-world, team-based learning activities. Although the literature broadly supports IPE, few studies have examined the impacts of integrated IPE curricula on fostering effective interprofessional collaborative practice across health and social care professions. Methods: This qualitative case study explored these impacts from the perspectives of classroom-based facilitators and practice-based preceptors involved in delivering IPE in Canada. Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews with twenty-six participants from four Canadian post-secondary institutions and were analyzed inductively using thematic content analysis. Findings and Discussion: Key findings emerged across six themes: (1) Gender Representation; (2) Availability of Facilitators and Preceptors; (3) Mode of Delivery; (4) Nature of Curriculum; (5) Perception of Interprofessional Education as Extracurricular; and (6) Limited and Inequitable Access to Practice-Based Interprofessional Education. These themes reflect persistent structural and institutional barriers, as well as opportunities to improve IPE delivery. Conclusions: To advance meaningful interprofessional collaborative practice in health and social care, institutions should offer substantial incentives to increase faculty and clinician involvement in IPE delivery; utilize both in-person and online modes of delivery; and foster inter-institutional partnerships. These strategies support the World Health Organization’s call for the sustainable integration of IPE into professional degree programs in health and social care, ultimately aiming to improve patient-, client-, family-, and community-centred care.