Interprofessional learning in hospitals is the practice of nurses, physiotherapists, and other clinicians learning with, from, and about one another to improve collaboration and patient care. According to PLOS One, Åhlund et al. (2026) mapped facilitators and barriers to workplace IPL by screening 1, 973 records and including 11 studies in a scoping review updated in July 2026. This post is written for clinical researchers, hospital education leads, and qualitative teams who need to turn heterogeneous interview, observation, and survey data into operational insights about IPL. Read on for an extractable summary of findings from the review, an at-a-glance snapshot table, AI-enabled qualitative research tactics, and a concise mapping of problems to solutions using Evidano.
Key Takeaways
According to PLOS One, Åhlund et al. (2026) conclude that "Sustainable IPL requires organizational structures that enable regular interaction among professionals, inclusive team cultures, and collaborative leadership." The scoping review screened 1, 973 records (search updated July 2026) and included 11 studies published between 2009 and 2022.
- 1, 973 records were screened and 11 studies were included in the final analysis, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026) in July 2026.
- 10 out of 11 included studies used qualitative methods (91%), and sample sizes in the included studies ranged from 18 to 333, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
- Conducive organizational structures appeared in 10 studies, socialization and familiarization in 6 studies, and positive team climate in 5 studies, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
- Åhlund et al. (2026) warn that barriers include siloed education, physical separation, hierarchical dynamics, and lack of time, which can create an "us versus them" mentality in clinical teams.
What happened: PLOS One scoping review methods and core findings
What happened: Åhlund et al. (2026) conducted a scoping review to identify facilitators and barriers to interprofessional learning in hospital clinical practice between nurses and physiotherapists, according to PLOS One (published August 7, 2026).
How it was measured: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), the authors searched PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus from inception to July 2026, initially screened 1, 973 titles and abstracts, reviewed 33 full texts, and included 11 peer-reviewed empirical studies.
Study mix and dates: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), included studies were published between 2009 and 2022, 4 of 11 studies were from Australia (36%), and 10 of 11 studies used qualitative interviews or focus groups (91%).
Core findings: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), facilitators clustered into three themes: supporting socialization and familiarization (n = 6), building a positive team climate (n = 5), and conducive organizational structures (n = 10). According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), barriers clustered into limiting structural prerequisites (n = 5), constraining interprofessional interactions (n = 4), and non-conducive workplace culture (n = 5).
Direct quotes: Åhlund et al. (2026) state, "Sustainable IPL requires organizational structures that enable regular interaction among professionals, inclusive team cultures, and collaborative leadership, " and they describe a culture that can produce an "us versus them" mindset when team conditions are poor, according to PLOS One (Aug 7, 2026).
Findings snapshot
| Date / Item | Metric | Value | Implication |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2026 | Records screened | 1, 973 | Large initial corpus, rigorous narrowing to workplace IPL evidence |
| July 2026 | Studies included | 11 | Focused evidence base specific to hospital settings with nurses and physiotherapists |
| 2009–2022 | Method mix | 10/11 qualitative (91%) | Insights are rich in context, suited to thematic synthesis |
| Included studies | Conducive structures | n = 10 | Organizational support repeatedly appears as enabler |
| Included studies | Socialization/familiarization | n = 6 | Shadowing and joint rounds support role understanding |
| Included studies | Positive team climate | n = 5 | Trust and informal interaction drive IPL |
Implications for qualitative researchers and hospital educators
Implications: For qualitative researchers and hospital education leads, the PLOS One review means synthesis should prioritize organizational and cultural factors when studying IPL, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
- Design data collection to capture context: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), observations, shadowing, and focus groups recur in included studies, so include field notes and interaction traces when possible.
- Code for levels: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), identify codes at individual, team, and organizational levels to reflect facilitators and barriers that occur at different scales.
- Preserve process traces: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), include temporal markers such as frequency of meetings or co-location to link structure to learning outcomes.
- Prioritize transferability: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), given the small number of studies (n = 11), report thick descriptions so other hospitals can judge fit.
How Evidano helps translate IPL evidence into action
What is Evidano?
Evidano is an AI-powered qualitative data analysis platform that helps researchers analyze interviews, open-ended surveys, and documents.
Problem: Large, messy corpora slow synthesis. Solution: Use Evidano to ingest transcripts, observation notes, and meeting minutes, then run thematic and frequency analyses to surface the organizational and cultural themes that PLOS One highlights, such as co-location and leadership support.
Problem: Tracking interactions across time is manual and error-prone. Solution: Evidano supports cross-segment analyses to compare staff groups, time periods, or ward layouts and can visualize co-occurrence networks of codes tied to facilitators like "team rounds" or barriers like "physical separation".
Feature mapping: common IPL problems to Evidano capabilities
Problem: Interviews and field notes are scattered across files. Feature: Evidano ingests heterogeneous documents and spreadsheets, enabling a unified thematic analysis (see Evidano features).
Problem: Transcription and multilingual notes add friction. Feature: Evidano provides transcription and translation with custom dictionaries to preserve professional terminology and PII redaction, which speeds coding of clinical conversations (see Evidano speech-to-text).
Problem: Leaders need evidence to change space and schedules. Feature: Evidano produces exportable visuals and frequency tables that link themes (for example, "shared break room" co-occurring with "informal learning") to help make the case to managers.
Operational next steps using AI-enabled qualitative research
Step 1: Consolidate transcripts, observation logs, and meeting minutes into Evidano and run an initial thematic model to surface organizational-level codes, consistent with PLOS One recommendations about the primacy of structure (Åhlund et al., 2026).
Step 2: Use cross-segment analysis to compare wards with frequent therapist co-location versus wards where physiotherapy is remote, testing the PLOS One finding that physical co-location facilitates IPL (Åhlund et al., 2026).
Step 3: Produce a short evidence brief for leadership that quantifies how often themes related to leadership, co-location, and team climate co-occur with reported IPL events, using outputs that hospital managers can act on.
FAQ: interprofessional learning in hospitals
What are the main facilitators of interprofessional learning in hospitals?
Answer: The main facilitators are socialization and familiarization, a positive team climate, and conducive organizational structures, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), methods such as joint assessments, shadowing, team rounds, shared physical spaces, and leadership that schedules interprofessional time recur across the included studies.
What barriers most often prevent IPL between nurses and physiotherapists?
Answer: The most common barriers are siloed education, physical separation, hierarchical culture, and time constraints, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), these barriers manifest as limited structured meetings, therapists perceived as outsiders, and interruptions that reduce informal interaction.
How can qualitative teams measure whether changes increase IPL?
Answer: Measure frequency of interprofessional interactions, co-occurrence of learning-related codes, and staff-reported perceptions before and after interventions, consistent with the studies summarized in PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
Supporting detail: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), observational methods, focus groups, and targeted surveys were commonly used; AI-assisted thematic coding lets teams quantify changes in themes such as "role understanding" or "informal exchanges."
Can AI help speed synthesis of IPL qualitative evidence?
Answer: Yes, AI-enabled qualitative analysis can accelerate coding, surface cross-segment patterns, and produce managerial visuals while preserving researcher oversight.
Supporting detail: According to the PLOS One review (Åhlund et al., 2026), IPL depends on organizational and contextual nuances; AI platforms allow teams to iterate rapidly on coding schemes and to link thematic findings to structural variables such as co-location and meeting frequency.
Conclusion & Next Steps
Recap: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), sustainable interprofessional learning in hospitals depends on regular interactions, inclusive team cultures, and leadership that creates structural opportunities for shared practice.
Next steps for teams: According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), prioritize audits of meeting frequency and space design, collect targeted qualitative data on team climate, and test low-cost changes such as shared break spaces and scheduled joint rounds.
If you want to accelerate synthesis, use an AI-enabled qualitative workflow to move from transcripts to decisions: collect interviews and observations, run thematic and cross-segment analyses, and produce stakeholder-ready visuals.
Try the platform: Try Evidano for free.
Topics
- interprofessional learning in hospitals
- interprofessional learning nurses physiotherapists
- workplace IPL hospital
- AI qualitative analysis IPL
- interprofessional education clinical practice
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