Chiropractors in interprofessional practice settings: a narrative review exploring context, outcomes, barriers and facilitators

Abstract

To determine the added value of interprofessional interventions over existing mono-professional practice, elucidation of specific health care issues, service delivery contexts and benefits of combining multiple service provider is required. However, from existing literature, it is difficult to develop a sense of the evidence that supports interprofessional practice initiatives involving chiropractors. This review aims to describe and explore the contexts, outcomes, and barriers and facilitators relating to interprofessional practice involving chiropractors available in current literature. A search of Scopus, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases covering the literature from 2005 to October 2021 was conducted, after which a narrative review of identified peer-reviewed articles written in English was performed. We included data from seven studies, conducted across four distinct service delivery contexts. Eight interprofessional practice partners were identified, and eight factors appear to act as barriers and facilitators. Data suggests that incorporating chiropractors into community health and sports medicine interprofessional practice interventions is achievable and appears to impact collaborative practice positively. For older adults with low back pain, quality of life and care-related satisfaction are potential relevant outcomes for the evaluation of interprofessional practice interventions. There is currently very limited evidence from which to judge the value of interprofessional practice interventions, as available literature appears to focus mainly on interprofessional collaboration. Studies conducted specifically to evaluate interprofessional practice solutions and addressing specific health care issues or practice domains are urgently required.

A guide to evaluating systematic reviews for the busy clinicians or reluctant readers

“… Narrative reviews simply tell a story and may or may not have some transparent elements, but most commonly they consist of a summary of a topic, which can be both relevant and interesting. In fact, a topic may not be possible to deal with satisfactorily unless in a narrative form, as shown in this example which aimed to describe the outcomes, barriers, and facilitators relating to interprofessional practice involving chiropractors [ 8 ]. Unless the review is completely transparent, though, the reader cannot tell if what is written is also ‘true’ (including all relevant evidence, objective, and well-balanced).…”