Fostering professional identity through interprofessional debriefing: a scoping review

Simulation-enhanced interprofessional education (IPE-sim) improves students' interprofessional collaboration skills. During the debriefing phase, students analyze and reflect on their performance to develop the collaborative skills required for effective teamwork. Although IPE-sim has become increasingly common in health professional education, interprofessional debriefing after IPE-sims lacks clarity. This scoping review was guided by the Joanna Briggs Institute's scoping review methodology and aimed to expound empirical research on IPE in a healthcare context, focusing on debriefing in IPE-sim. A systematic search of Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, Embase, and Google Scholar was undertaken between April and May 2024. A total of 17 articles were included. Three themes were identified. The first theme highlights how healthcare students learn through interprofessional reflection during debriefing. The second focuses on the importance of structuring the interprofessional debriefing process. Finally, the third theme emphasizes the facilitator's role in supporting a learning environment for interprofessional debriefing. Debriefing allows students to develop their professional identities and dual roles in interprofessional teamwork, with facilitators playing a crucial role. Future researchers should examine how interprofessional debriefing can best be designed and aligned with established competency frameworks to optimize identity development and collaborative practice in healthcare education.