Factors influencing workplace collaboration and learning between resident doctors and senior nurses: a scoping review

This study examines the working and learning dynamics between resident doctors and senior nurses, with a focus on identifying factors that influence how resident doctors can learn more effectively from experienced nurses to enhance their training. A scoping review of current literature related to working experience between resident doctors and nurses was conducted using the PRISMA2009 checklist. This scoping review followed the JBI Preferred Reporting for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis for Scoping Review Checklists. Medline, CINAHL, PubMed and Scopus databases were searched. The review used key terms around junior doctors/resident doctors/trainee doctors, nurses, and interprofessional collaboration and learning. 22 articles across different country settings spanning 9-years were included in the final review. Critical realism-informed thematic analysis was used, and three themes were developed regarding forces shaping learning between resident doctors: organisational factors, professional factors and personal factors. These findings suggest that interprofessional workplace collaboration, learning and mentoring can take place between resident doctors and experienced nurses. However, the findings suggest that in order to be most effective, programmes should be formalised, should take workload and emotional labour into account, and should critically examine the professional norms and intersectional factors which might be detrimental to learning relationships.