How to Enable Interprofessional Learning in Hospitals

According to the PLOS One scoping review, sustainable interprofessional learning requires organizational structures that enable regular interaction among professionals, inclusive team cultures, and collaborative leadership (PLOS One).

• The PLOS One review (published August 7, 2026) screened 1, 973 records and included 11 empirical studies after full-text review in July 2026, showing a narrow but consistent evidence base.
• According to the PLOS One review, 10 of the 11 included studies (91%) used qualitative designs and the reported sample sizes ranged from 18 to 333 participants across studies.
• According to the PLOS One review, facilitators clustered into three themes (socialization/familiarization, positive team climate, conducive organizational structures) and barriers clustered into three themes (limited structures, constrained interactions, non-conducive workplace culture).
• As Åhlund et al., 2026 write, "Sustainable IPL requires organizational structures that enable regular interaction among professionals, inclusive team cultures, and collaborative leadership."

Answer: The PLOS One scoping review mapped facilitators and barriers to interprofessional learning in adult hospital settings by systematically searching three databases up to July 2026.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, the authors searched PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus from inception to July 2026 and updated the search in July 2026, which yielded 2, 206 records before deduplication and 1, 973 titles and abstracts screened.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, after title/abstract and full-text screening the authors included 11 peer-reviewed empirical studies published between 2009 and 2022, and the review followed Arksey and O’Malley and PRISMA-ScR guidance.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, the included studies came mostly from Australia (4/11), Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Israel, and used qualitative interviews (10/11), observations (5/11), and surveys (3/11) to identify facilitators and barriers.

Answer: Researchers and clinical educators should measure both structural conditions and day-to-day interactions when studying interprofessional learning in hospitals.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, organizational structures such as shared meeting time, co-location, and leadership support were reported as facilitators in 10 of the included studies, indicating that structural metrics (meeting frequency, co-location proportion) are essential outcome variables.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, socialization practices like shadowing, joint assessments, and team rounds were documented in 6 studies as facilitators, meaning ethnographic observation and coded interaction logs are effective qualitative measures.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, barriers such as siloed education backgrounds, hierarchical team dynamics, and physical separation were repeatedly identified, so data collection should include role perceptions, power dynamics, and spatial mapping.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, interprofessional learning in hospitals strengthens when organizations build structures for regular interaction, cultivate inclusive team climates, and support collaboration through leadership.

According to the PLOS One scoping review, the mapped facilitators and barriers provide clear targets for qualitative evaluation and intervention design.

If you run interviews, observations, or open-text surveys on IPL, Evidano can accelerate synthesis from raw transcripts to actionable themes and visualizations (Evidano features).

Next step: Try Evidano for free to upload transcripts, run thematic and frequency analyses, and create leader-facing summaries that translate PLOS One evidence into measurable change.