A Medical Education Research Library: key research topics and associated experts.

When clinician-educators and medical education researchers use and discuss medical education research, they can advance innovation in medical education as well as improve its quality. To facilitate the use and discussions of medical education research, we created a prefatory visual representation of key medical education research topics and associated experts. We conducted one-on-one virtual interviews with medical education journal editorial board members to identify what they perceived as key medical education research topics as well as who they associated, as experts, with each of the identified topics. We used content analysis to create categories representing key topics and noted occurrences of named experts. Twenty-one editorial board members, representing nine of the top medical education journals, participated. From the data we created a figure entitled, Medical Education Research Library. The library includes 13 research topics, with assessment as the most prevalent. It also notes recognized experts, including van der Vleuten, ten Cate, and Norman. The key medical education research topics identified and included in the library align with what others have identified as trends in the literature. Selected topics, including workplace-based learning, equity, diversity, and inclusion, physician wellbeing and burnout, and social accountability, are emerging. Once transformed into an open educational resource, clinician-educators and medical education researchers can use and contribute to the functional library. Such continuous expansion will generate better awareness and recognition of diverse perspectives. The functional library will help to innovate and improve the quality of medical education through evidence-informed practices and scholarship.

Exploring the connections between programmatic assessment and program evaluation within competency-based medical education programs.

Programmatic assessment and program evaluation are both important within competency-based medical education (CBME) programs. Given this importance, there is value in evaluating programmatic assessment as well as using the information collected in programmatic assessment for the evaluation of CBME programs. In order to help facilitate these two activities, this paper distinguishes between programmatic assessment and program evaluation as well as highlights the connections between them. In doing so, it shows that programmatic assessment and program evaluation, when employed appropriately, can complement each other and contribute to the overall effectiveness of CBME programs.

Observing the influence of the physical environment on family involvement in a rehabilitation setting.

INTRODUCTION: Health professionals and institutions need to understand how to facilitate family involvement within settings designed prior to the adoption of patient- and family-centered philosophies. This study sought to explore how the physical environment of an inpatient rehabilitation setting influenced family involvement in health care delivery. METHOD: We conducted this study on the inpatient acquired brain injury ward of a Canadian adult rehabilitation center. This study used a basic interpretive qualitative approach. We conducted observations of how the physical environment influenced the conversations, interactions, and activities, which were central to family involvement, in this setting. We used a systematic qualitative analysis method. This study received research ethics board approval prior to commencing. RESULTS: We conducted 26 2-hr observation sessions. Five sessions occurred in the morning, 17 in early and late afternoon, and 4 in the evening. Eighteen sessions occurred on a weekday and 8 on a weekend day. The following 6 categories emerged from the field data: (a) accessing health professionals, (b) awareness of family presence, (c) facilitating family presence, (d) facilitating patient-family activities, (e) providing information for families, and (f) facilitating family involvement in therapy. DISCUSSION: This study provided information to inform future discussions and strategies for facilitating family involvement within the existing physical environments of health care institutions. Initial steps should consider ways to help families feel welcomed, such as including additional seating in spaces, posting signage inviting families into spaces, having resources tailored to families readily available, and creating a visible sign-in/sign-out board for families. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Pediatric caregiver involvement in the assessment of physicians.

BACKGROUND: Given the growth and benefits of consumerist and family-centred approaches to pediatric health care, there is a need to involve pediatric caregivers in the assessment of their children's physicians. DISCUSSION: We present interconnected questions that are important to address in order to facilitate pediatric caregiver involvement in the assessment of their children's physicians. Pediatric caregivers can be valuable assessors of physicians' non-technical skills. It is important to conduct additional research on caregiver involvement in assessment activities and create a reflective discourse on this topic. To ensure that pediatric caregivers' assessments of physicians are formally recognized and advantageous, it is important to understand: (a) what pediatric caregivers can assess; (b) what assessment tools exist for pediatric caregivers;