The Challenge of Implementing Online Interprofessional Education for Undergraduate Students: A Literature Review

Abstract

Background: Interprofessional education (IPE) is undergoing vast development recently. Online learning has been proven to help overcoming the barriers that were commonly found in traditional IPE. However, the management of online learning in IPE is not well understood. The study identified challenges in online learning in IPE as well as recommendations for better program implementation. Methods: A literature review was performed using several keywords including “online learning”, “blended learning”, “interprofessional education”, “challenges”, and “obstacles”. The databases included EBSCOHost, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and Sciencedirect. A narrative analysis was performed to meet the review objective. Results: The identified challenges in establishing online learning for IPE were categorized according to each phase, i.e. planning and implementation. Seven categories of challenge were highlighted. The recommendations to overcome each challenge were also discussed for better implementation in the future. Conclusion: Understanding the possible challenge in each phase of developing online learning for IPE could minimize the potential disruption in achieving the learning objective. Gaining support as well as faculty trainings are crucial to ensure the program sustainability

The impact of online interprofessional learning on family health education to prepare collaborative-ready health professionals: A mixed-method study

“…[ 31 32 ] A previous study stated that the design of the IPE curriculum could influence the development of the collaborative attitude of health profession students. [ 33 ] Participants also mentioned that the IPE course provided a contextual learning experience. Collaboratively, students learn by interacting directly with the family.…”

Online Interprofessional Education (IPE) evaluation for healthcare students as Interprofessional Collaboration (IPC) optimization

“…Vivi Retno Intening, et.al The results of this study indicate that there are obstacles in the implementation of online IPE, including: lack of enthusiasm, unable to assess active students, many assignments, lack of interaction and signal barriers. The effectiveness of the IPC competency program is influenced by the quality of student interaction, which is obtained through group discussions, collaborative projects and also team building (Riskiyana, 2021). Student interaction during online IPE is limited and has the potential to hinder the achievement of interprofessional competence (Hanna et al, 2013;Jones et al, 2020;Poirier et al, 2016;Turkelson et al, 2020).…”

“…Meanwhile, asynchronous platforms usually already have a tracking feature to record student engagement. The facilitator also revealed that the implementation of online IPE was not optimal due to lack of preparation, so it was necessary to evaluate and improve if later online IPE would be performed again for future programs (Hayward et al, 2021;Riskiyana, 2021). "...Then when it was repeated, it seemed that yesterday it was possible because this was the first time it was forced to go online, so our preparations are still not... what is it?...…”