AI Synthesis: Qualitative Analysis of IPL in Hospitals

The PLOS One scoping review (Åhlund et al., 2026) found that sustainable interprofessional learning in hospitals is supported by socialization, a positive team climate, and conducive organizational structures, and hindered by siloed education, physical separation, and hierarchical culture. PLOS One

• The PLOS One review screened 1, 973 records and included 11 studies after full-text review in July 2026, see PLOS One (August 7, 2026).
• According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), 10 of the 11 included studies used qualitative interviews (91%), field observations appeared in 5 studies (46%), and surveys in 3 studies (27%).
• The studies in the PLOS One review were published between 2009 and 2022, and sample sizes ranged from 18 to 333 participants, according to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026).
• Quote from the authors in PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026): "Sustainable IPL requires organizational structures that enable regular interaction among professionals."

Answer: The PLOS One scoping review systematically identified facilitators and barriers to workplace IPL between nurses and physiotherapists in adult hospital settings.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), the authors searched PubMed, CINAHL, and Scopus from inception to July 2026 and updated the search in July 2026, yielding 2, 206 records before deduplication and 1, 973 records screened after duplicates were removed.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), after screening 33 full texts and checking reference lists, 11 peer-reviewed empirical studies met inclusion criteria and were charted against themes including socialization, team climate, and organizational structures.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), geographic distribution included Australia (4/11, 36%), Sweden and Norway (each 2 studies), Canada (2 studies), and Israel (1 study); all included articles were published between 2009 and 2022.

Answer: Researchers and clinical educators should prioritize methods and designs that capture social interactions, shared spaces, and organizational processes when studying IPL.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), facilitators included joint assessments, shadowing, team rounds, and shared physical spaces, which means qualitative projects should include observational data and documentation of meeting frequency.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), barriers included physical separation and hierarchical cultures, which suggests interview guides should probe perceived access, status dynamics, and continuity of staffing.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), the review authors warn that IPL findings are often shaped by ward culture and existing practices, so longitudinal or repeated measures designs improve validity.

Answer: Combining the PLOS One scoping review findings (Åhlund et al., 2026) with AI-enabled qualitative methods produces faster, more reproducible syntheses of IPL facilitators and barriers in hospital settings.

According to PLOS One (Åhlund et al., 2026), organizational structures, socialization, and team climate matter most for sustainable IPL, so design your data collection to capture those processes and use AI to accelerate coding and cross-segment comparisons.

If you want to pilot AI-assisted thematic analysis on transcripts, observation notes, or mixed-method datasets, start with an Evidano trial to import documents, run thematic tagging, and visualize code co-occurrence; see our features page to learn how.

To get hands-on, Try Evidano for free.