Barriers to the preceptor’s role in interprofessional education: scoping review

Abstract Background With the expansion of interprofessional health education, preceptors are increasingly working with learners from several professions to promote collaborative practice. It is unclear what are the challenges toward interprofessional education in preceptor's learning environment. A scoping review was conducted to map the barriers to preceptorship role in interprofessional health education. The following research question was formulated: What are the barriers to preceptor's role in interprofessional education? Methods The research question was defined with the framework PCC: Population - preceptors; Concept - barriers to preceptorship role; Context - interprofessional health education initiatives. A systematic search in 8 databases was conducted in April 2020 to identify primary research studies published in Portuguese, Spanish or English. Independent screenings of titles/abstracts followed by full texts were performed using pre-defined criteria. This review followed the Institute Joanna Briggs Manual of Evidences (2020) and the PRISMA-ScR guideline. Results A total of 28 studies from the United States, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Sweden and the United Kingdom remained to extract barriers. Barriers were summarized in five main aspects: limited resources, preceptorship regulation, patients participation, teaching-service integration, local culture for interprofessional teamwork and preceptor development. Some of the barriers were: lack of coordination between educational institutions and health services, hierarchical relationship among professionals, unfavorable working environment for interprofessional collaboration, unclear professional roles and need of preceptor development. Conclusions Many barriers have been identified at the macro and microstructural levels of health systems. Discussing and analyzing such barriers is fundamental for advancing the debate on the skills and roles of preceptors, with a view to strengthen the Interprofessional Health Education. Key messages Preceptorship is important to development interprofessional collaboration. The results make it possible to plan strategies that contribute to professional recognition and professional development.