What Are We Made For? Mobilizing Medical Education Research for Impact

Bibliographic Data

ID21615097
AuthorsJaveed Sukhera (0000-0001-8146-4947, J. Sukhera is chair/chief of psychiatry, Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, and associate clinical professor of psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, Hartford, Connecticut, corresponding author), Cha-Chi Fung (C.-C. Fung is professor of clinical medical education (educational scholar), vice chair of medical education, and assistant dean for assessment and scholarship, Department of Medical Education, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, California ; [email protected]), Arianne Teherani (0000-0003-2936-9832, A. Teherani is professor of medicine, director of program evaluation and education continuous quality improvement, and founding codirector, University of California Center for Climate, Health and Equity, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California ; [email protected]), T R Wyatt (0000-0002-0071-5298, T.R. Wyatt is associate professor and vice chair for research, Department of Health Professions Education, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland ; [email protected]), Daniel Schumacher (0000-0002-3747-2410, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center), Daniel J Schumacher (0000-0001-5507-8452, D.J. Schumacher is professor of pediatrics, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio ; [email protected]), Andrea N Leep-Hunderfund (0000-0002-7784-504X, A.N. Leep Hunderfund is associate professor of neurology and medical director, Office of Applied Scholarship and Education Science, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, Minnesota ; [email protected])
Year2024
Volume99
Issue11
Pages1177-1180
Publication date2024-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAcademic Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1040-2446 • E-ISSN: 1938-808X
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/acm.0000000000005850
PMID39240893
OpenAlexW4402302017
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited41

During the past several decades, medical education research has advanced in many ways. However, the field has struggled somewhat with translating knowledge into practice. The field has tremendous potential to generate insights that may improve educational outcomes, enhance teaching experiences, reduce costs, promote equity, and inform policy. However, the gap between research and practice requires attention and reflection. In this commentary, the authors reflect on ways that medical education researchers can balance relevance and rigor, while discussing a potential path forward. First, medical education research can learn from implementation science, which focuses on adopting and sustaining best practices in real-world settings. Second, gaining a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic ways that medical education contexts may influence the uptake of research findings into practice would facilitate the translation and mobilization of knowledge into practical settings. Third, moving from unilateral knowledge translation to participatory knowledge mobilization and engaging diverse stakeholders as active participants in the research process can also enhance impact and influence research findings. Overall, for medical education research to effect meaningful change, it must transition from producing generalizable findings to generating context-specific insights and embracing participatory knowledge mobilization. This shift will involve rethinking traditional research approaches and fostering collaboration with knowledge users to cocreate and implement innovative solutions tailored to their unique settings

Best practice · Citizen journalism · Engineering ethics · Knowledge management · Knowledge translation · Medical education · Participatory action research · Political science · Public relations · Sociology · Computer Science · Empathy and Medical Education · Engineering · Health Sciences Research and Education · Innovations in Medical Education · Medicine

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