THESES-M: protocol for the development of a reporting guideline for medical theses.

To provide person-centered care for patients with complex needs, the competence of various healthcare professions is essential. Effective interprofessional collaboration (IPC), including shared learning, is considered to reduce healthcare fragmentation and create opportunities to optimize resources, as team members together may achieve more than is possible individually [,]. Furthermore, such collaboration is positively associated with patient safety []. Achieving effective IPC, however, requires that professionals not only possess discipline-specific expertise but also understand one another’s roles and responsibilities and coordinate their efforts across professional boundaries []. In general hospital wards, nurses typically play a key role in coordinating patient care by ensuring that the appropriate professionals are involved []. Although medical and nursing staff usually work closely together within the ward, allied health professionals such as physiotherapists are often organizationally affiliated with hospital-wide units and are engaged following referral or contact from ward staff []. Within collaborative practice, interprofessional learning (IPL) is actively promoted and recognized as a key success factor for effective, appropriate, safe, and sustainable healthcare []. IPL entails professionals from diverse disciplines learning with, from, and about one another to enhance collaboration and mutual understanding []. Although the importance of IPL is widely recognized, opportunities for such learning vary across educational and clinical contexts. Traditionally, the education of healthcare professionals has been divided into silos, with one’s own professional role being the focus and the traditions and working methods adopted being based on one’s own tasks []. IPC and teamwork are now commonly embedded in the courses of most healthcare education programs, but the forms and arrangements for how the learning takes place vary []. Despite increased awareness of IPC, clinical placements often provide medical and nursing students with limited opportunities for structured learning with other professions, including physiotherapists []. Furthermore, few referring providers report having received education about physical therapy during their academic or postgraduate training. Notably, those interacting more frequently with physiotherapists perceived greater patient benefit from physiotherapy []. These observations highlight the potential importance of learning within clinical practice.