In Search of Medical Professionalism Research: Preliminary Results from a Review of Widely Read Medical Journals.

INTRODUCTION: Professionalism is a core concept in medicine. The extent to which knowledge about professionalism is anchored in empirical research is unknown. Understanding the current state of research is necessary to identify significant gaps and create a road map for future professionalism efforts. The authors conducted an exploratory literature review to characterize professionalism research published in widely read medical journals, identify knowledge gaps, and describe the sources of funding for the identified studies. METHODS: The authors focused on Medline's Abridged Index Medicus and 4 core Medline education-oriented journal and developed a search filter using text words found in the article title or abstract addressing professionalism. Articles were further filtered to include those indicating a research focus. RESULTS: The search strategy resulted in 461 professionalism research articles for analysis. Articles were divided into themes of education (n = 212, 45.9%), performance (n = 83, 18%), measurement development (n = 13, 2.8%), remediation (n = 53, 11.5%), and well-being (n = 100, 21.6%). There were 36 studies from 1980 to 2002 (Era 1: before publication of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education competencies) and 425 from 2003 to 17 (Era 2: after Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education publication of competencies). Professionalism education was the most common topic area, and most studies were from single institutions with results based on convenience samples. Most studies received no funding or were funded by the authors' own institution. DISCUSSION: Little empirical research is available on professionalism in widely read medical journals. There has been limited external research funding available to study this topic. CONCLUSION: More investment in high quality professionalism research is justified and should be encouraged.

Strategies addressing barriers to clinical trial enrollment of underrepresented populations: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Underrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in clinical trials remains a reality while they have disproportionately higher rates of health disparities. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify successful community-engaged interventions that included health care providers as a key strategy in addressing barriers to clinical trial enrollment of underrepresented patients. DESIGN: A systematic review of the literature on interventions addressing enrollment barriers to clinical trials for racial and ethnic minorities was performed in Ovid MEDLINE, EBSCO Megafile, and EBSCO CINAHL. The systematic review identified 360 studies, and 20 were selected using the inclusion criteria. An iterative process extracted information from the eligible studies. RESULTS: The 20 selected studies were analyzed and then grouped by first author, nature of the clinical research initiative, priority populations, key strategies, and study outcomes. Nine of the studies addressed cancer clinical trials and 11 related to chronic medical conditions, including diabetes, hypertension management, and chronic kidney disease. The key strategies employed were categorized according to their presumed impact on barriers incurred at distinct steps in study recruitment: clinical trial awareness, opportunity to participate, and acceptance of enrollment. The strategies were further categorized by whether they would address barriers associated with minority perceptions of the research process and barriers related to how studies were designed and implemented. CONCLUSION: Multiple and flexible strategies targeting providers and participants at provider sites and within communities might be needed to enroll underrepresented populations into clinical trials.

Literature searching in medical education: online tutorial development from idea to creation.

The medical education literature is growing, and the result is not only greater knowledge, but an increasing complexity in locating quality evidence-based information. In 2008, eight librarians partnered with the Association of American Medical Colleges to research, conceptualize, and build an online module to develop medical educators' search skills. Developing an online instructional module is a time-consuming, multi-stage process requiring the expertise of content, technical, and design specialists working in concert. Many lessons were learned, including the power of collaborative tools; the benefits of including specialists, such as graphic designers; the benefit of thoroughly surveying existing resources; and the importance of choosing technology wisely.

Supporting academic health centers with knowledge management: learning from the Web.

In a 2003 publication, the Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries (AAHSL) made explicit the many ways in which a library might contribute to an academic health center's success through knowledge management (KM). Building on Success: Charting the Future of Knowledge Management within the Academic Health Center elucidated the ways in which a library can serve as the center of an organization's KM initiatives. The study and application of knowledge management tools is formidable; unlike information management (IM), the field of knowledge management has roots in a seemingly infinite and wide-ranging number of professional and academic disciplines. The planning of institutional KM initiatives is not commonly discussed, and history shows knowledge management projects often fail to thrive. This column introduces the topic of knowledge management and includes suggested Web-based resources for further understanding and project planning.

Library learning space--empirical research and perspective.

Navigate the Net columns offer navigation to Web sites of value to medical librarians. For this issue, the authors recognize that librarians are frequently challenged to justify the need for the physical space occupied by a library in the context of the wide availability of electronic resources, ubiquitous student laptops, and competition for space needed by other institutional priorities. While this trend started years ago, it continues to raise a number of important practical and philosophical questions for libraries and the institutions they serve. What is the library for? What is library space best used for? How does the concept of "Library as Place" support informed decisions for librarians and space planners? In this issue, Web-based resources are surveyed that address these questions for libraries generally and health sciences libraries more specifically.

Navigating pitfalls of web-based survey development and administration.

With multiple low-cost Web-based delivery methods increasingly available, the number of surveys being distributed to gather data on library users and potential users is dramatically increasing. This paper provides an overview of survey administration including history, guidelines on decision-making in survey development, and best practices for survey research when delivered via the Web. Questions on survey development issues such as probability and non-probability sampling and privacy concerns are clarified.

Searching the literature by design.

Current nursing knowledge has been generated by studies whose designs range from exploratory to experimental. Searching the literature for a study illustrating a particular design can be a perplexing process. This article explains strategies that are useful in identifying research studies according to the designs used in their methods. The suggested search strategies assist in identifying the most relevant search results and can save time. Outcomes of such a search can be instructional about the implementation of a design in its classic form or some variation. They can provide practical illustrations of the advantages and limitations of a design when applied in a particular area of interest.