Facilitators for developing an interprofessional learning culture in nursing homes: a scoping review

Healthcare professionals in nursing homes face complex care demands and nursing staff shortages. As a result, nursing homes are transforming into home-like personalised facilities that deliver person-centred care. These challenges and changes require an interprofessional learning culture in nursing homes, but there is little understanding of the facilitators that contribute to developing such a culture. This scoping review aims to identify those facilitators.

A scoping review was performed in accordance with the JBI Manual for Evidence Synthesis (2020). The search was carried out in 2020-2021 in seven international databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Medline, Embase, PsycINFO and Web of Science). Two researchers independently extracted reported facilitators that contribute to an interprofessional learning culture in nursing homes. Then the researchers inductively clustered the extracted facilitators into categories.

In total, 5,747 studies were identified. After removing duplicates and screening titles, abstracts and full texts, 13 studies that matched the inclusion criteria were included in this scoping review. We identified 40 facilitators and clustered them into eight categories: (1) shared language, (2) shared goals, (3) clear tasks and responsibilities, (4) learning and sharing knowledge, (5) work approaches, (6) facilitating and supporting change and creativity by the frontline manager, (7) an open attitude, and (8) a safe, respectful and transparent environment.

We found facilitators that could be used to discuss the current interprofessional learning culture in nursing homes and identify where improvements are required. Further research is needed to discover how to operationalise facilitators that develop an interprofessional learning culture in nursing homes and to gain insights into what works, for whom, to what extent and in what context.