Interprofessional co-treatment practices in the allied health professions: a scoping review

Abstract

Interprofessional co-treatment occurs when practitioners from different professions engage in collaborative practice during the same session with the same patient or client. While interprofessional co-treatment is common practice in many settings, there are no known studies that have synthesized the available literature across professions on this interprofessional intervention. A scoping review was conducted to explore the nature and volume of the literature on interprofessional co-treatment involving six allied health professions. A search strategy was implemented, and articles were reviewed by two independent reviewers. Thirty-three articles were included in the study. The professions commonly represented in co-treatment studies were as follows: occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech-language pathology, music therapy, and classroom teaching. Studies discussed co-treatment in direct patient or client care, as a student learning experience, or in the exploration of professional practice issues. Studies discussed co-treatment in a range of clinical contexts. The most common co-treatment collaborations were between occupational therapy and physical therapy; physical therapy and speech-language pathology; speech-language pathology and music therapy; and speech-language pathology and classroom teaching. Co-treatment occurs with a range of professions in both health and non-health contexts, which may be reflected in student IPE experiences. Given the paucity of empirical studies on co-treatment, more work is required by practitioners and researchers to advance the evidence base.

Keywords: Allied health; co-treatment; collaboration; interprofessional.