Medical Education Research and Scholarship

Colleen J Kalynych
Department: Emergency Medicine – Jacksonville

Colleen J Kalynych EdD

Senior Lecturer; Assistant Dean For Medical Education
Janice A Taylor
Department: MD-SURGERY-PEDIATRIC

Janice A Taylor MD, MEd

Associate Professor

Student Limit of 10

Introduction

The Discovery Pathway in Medical Education Scholarship is a formal track designed to expose students interested in education and academic medicine to the scholarship of teaching and learning in the medical/clinical environment. This track draws heavily on the growing body of evidence-based literature regarding the process and outcomes of medical education and its contributions toward understanding teaching, learning and assessment at all levels of professional training – UME, GME and CME.  It is essential that medical education leaders utilize evidence-based strategies to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes of physicians and employ appropriate and rigorous evaluative measures at the system and individual course level to assess efficacy. Further, medical education scholars employ rigorous research methods to add to the body of medical education literature to continue innovation and discovery in the field to ultimately impact patient care.  The ability to engage medical students in educational scholarship during medical school can help prepare our future physicians for leadership roles in academic medicine. Sessions are led by track faculty and numerous influential scholars within UF’s Health Science Center and Colleges, and outside the institution. 

Overall Goals and Course Objectives:

Goal: To expose University of Florida College of Medicine medical students in the Discovery Pathway for Medical Education Research and Scholarship to foundational medical education principles and to develop skills in conducting medical education research or scholarship through course work and mentorship.

By the end of the pathway, students will be able to:

  • Recognize what constitutes medical education research and scholarship;
  • Participate in critically reviewing medical education articles published in medical education journals;
  • Describe medical education conceptual frameworks;
  • Discuss common study designs in medical education research (qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods)
  • Formulate appropriate research questions, study aims or problem statements with corresponding research methodologies and statistical plans or program evaluation methodologies
  • Identify important tenets in learner assessment and program evaluation
  • Recognize human subjects’ research, informed consent and institutional review board submissions

Track Completion Requirements:

  1. Attendance at 80% of all lectures and seminars
  2. Completion of all assignments
  3. Participation in group discussions
  4. Students seeking a Certificate of Distinction, complete the above requirements and a medical education capstone study or project with the intent and/or submission of an abstract, manuscript or local, state, regional or national presentation. Students can work in teams so long as there is sufficient work. For team projects, no more than 3 students per team (i.e., 3 students max per team). All projects will be approved by the course directors. Students whose MSRP is medical education focused can utilize this project as part of the capstone so long as it is longitudinal and meets the scholarly requirements listed above.
  5. Students who wish to graduate from the pathway without distinction and without a capstone project, complete items 2-4 and participate in an approved educational event.  Examples include serving as a Teaching Assistant (TA) in a first or second year course (e.g., Anatomy MDT 7520), or as a Physical Exam Teaching Assistant (PETA) in the Harrell Assessment Center, or attend the one-day Residents as Teachers program. The course directors must also approve educational events.

General Timeline:

Didactics will be on the approved COM Thursday dates. There will be minimal reading or course work between sessions. Our goal is for highly interactive sessions, avoiding straight lectures and integrating active learning.

MS1
• Participate in didactics
• Choose and participate in MSRP
• Choose pathway: distinction or general graduation
• Begin networking for capstone project


MS2
• Continue didactics
• Continue MSRP if relevant
• Capstone mentor chosen by mid-year if distinction route chosen
• Present project to track leaders for approval MS3-MS4
• Work with mentors on capstone project
• Complete approved educational event
• All: present projects or educational event to track participants and at relevant UF events: UF Research Day, Medical Education Day

MS3-MS4
• Work with mentors on capstone project
• Complete approved educational event
• All: present projects or educational event to track participants and at relevant UF events: UF Research Day, Medical Education Day

Course Content

Course material will reinforce principles in medical education research and scholarship such as Glassick’s criteria for scholarship: clear goals, adequate preparation, appropriate methods, significant (meaningful) results, effective presentation, and reflective critique. These practice points are outlined in Crites et al, 2014: Medical education scholarship: An introductory guide: AMEE Guide No. 89

Topics addressed over the 24 months of didactics will include:

  1. Introduction to Medical Education Scholarship
  2. Searching and Evaluating the Medical Education Literature
  3. Formulating Research Questions and Designing Studies
  4. Hypothesis-driven Research
  5. Measuring Educational Outcomes with Reliability and Validity
  6. Data Management and Preparing for Statistical Consultation
  7. Introduction to Qualitative Data Collection Methods
  8. Program Evaluation and Evaluation Research
  9. Considerations in Questionnaire Design and Survey Research
  10. Scholarly Writing: Publishing Medical Education Research

Other topics of interest:

  • Curriculum Development
  • Frameworks, Models
  • Education Theory
  • Mixed Methods Q&Q
  • Pedagogy, Andragogy

It is important to recognize these topics will be introductory. It is expected that more in-depth content and implementation will be project-based and mentorship will play a key role. We look forward to working with you!