Striking up a Conversation: Exploring Advising in Graduate Programs in Health Professions Education.

INTRODUCTION: Advising is happening across the medical education continuum, within non-medical graduate education programs, and is central to the advancement of said learners. This suggests that advising should play a role in graduate health progressions education (HPE) programs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: To explore advising curricula among HPE programs, we conducted a website review of all published HPE programs on the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research's website. RESULTS: We recognized the lack of information published on advisory roles in graduate HPE programs. This prompted a literature review, which revealed a similar gap. CONCLUSIONS: Advising serves to benefit a student, advisor, and program thus carrying importance and need for discussion. This article is intended to kick-start a scholarly discussion about advising within graduate HPE programs.

Masters in health professions education programs as they choose to represent themselves: A website review.

Introduction: In an age of increasingly face-to-face, blended, and online Health Professions Education, students have more choices of institutions at which to study their degree. For an applicant, oftentimes, the first step is to learn more about a program through its website. Websites allow programs to convey their unique voice and to share their mission and values with others such as applicants, researchers, and academics. Additionally, as the number of master in health professions education (MHPE), or equivalent, programs rapidly grows, websites can share the priorities of these programs. Methods: In this study, we conducted a website review of 158 MHPE websites to explore their geographical distributions, missions, educational concentrations, and various programmatic components. Results: We compiled this information and synthesized pertinent aspects, such as program similarities and differences, or highlighted the omission of critical data. Conclusions: Given that websites are often the first point of contact for prospective applicants, curious collaborators, and potential faculty, the digital image of MHPE programs matters. We believe our findings demonstrate opportunities for growth within institutions and assist the field in identifying the priorities of MHPE programs. As programs begin to shape their websites with more intentionality, they can reflect their relative divergence/convergence compared to other programs as they see fit and, therefore, attract individuals to best match this identity. Periodic reviews of the breadth of programs, such as those undergone here, are necessary to capture diversifying goals, and serves to help advance the field of MHPE as a whole.

The Making of an Educator: Professional Identity Formation Among Graduate Medical Education Faculty Through Situated Learning Theory.

INTRODUCTION: Professional identity formation (PIF) is a foundational element to professional medical education and training. Given the impact of faculty role models and mentors to student and trainee learning, mapping the landscape of PIF among faculty takes on increased importance. We conducted a scoping review of PIF through the lens of situated learning theory. Our scoping review question was: How is situated learning theory used to understand the process of PIF among graduate medical educators? METHODS: The scoping review methodology described by Levac et al served as the architecture for this review. Medline, Embase, PubMed, ERIC, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science Core Collection were searched (from inception) using a combination of terms that describe PIF among graduate medical educators. RESULTS: Of the 1434 unique abstracts screened, 129 articles underwent full-text review, with 14 meeting criteria for inclusion and full coding. Significant results organized into three main themes: importance of using common definitions; evolution of theory over time with untapped explanatory power; identity as a dynamic construct. DISCUSSION: The current body of knowledge leaves many gaps. These include lack of common definitions, need to apply ongoing theoretical insights to research, and exploration of professional identity as an evolving construct. As we come to understand PIF among medical faculty more fully, twin benefits accrue: (1) Community of practices can be designed deliberately to encourage full participation of all graduate medical education faculty who desire it, and (2) Faculty can more effectively lead trainees in negotiating the ongoing process of PIF across the landscape of professional identities.

Teaching Medical Students How to Teach: A Scoping Review.

PHENOMENON: Teaching medical students how to teach is a growing and essential focus of medical education, which has given rise to student teaching programs. Educating medical students on how to teach can improve their own learning and lay the foundation for a professional identity rooted in teaching. Still, medical student-as-teacher (MSAT) programs face numerous obstacles including time constraints, prioritizing curriculum, and determining effective evaluation techniques. The purpose of this scoping review is to map the current landscape of the literature on medical school initiatives designed to train students to teach to describe why medical student teaching programs are started; the benefits and barriers; who teaches them; what content is taught; and how content is delivered. With this new map, the authors aimed to facilitate the growth of new programs and provide a shared knowledge of practices derived from existing programs. APPROACH: The authors conducted a scoping review, guided by Arksey and O'Malley's framework, to map the literature of MSAT training programs. Six databases were searched using combinations of keywords and controlled vocabulary terms. Data were charted in duplicate using a collaboratively designed data charting tool. This review builds on the Marton et al. review and includes articles published from 2014 to 2020. FINDINGS: Of the 1,644 manuscripts identified, the full-text of 57 were reviewed, and ultimately 27 were included. Articles included empirical research, synthetic reviews, opinion pieces, and a descriptive study. Analysis focused on modalities for teaching medical students how to teach; content to teach medical students about teaching; benefits and barriers to starting teaching programs; and the value of teaching programs for medical students. INSIGHTS: The rapid growth of MSAT programs suggests that this curricular offering is of great interest to the field. Literature shows an increase in evaluative efforts among programs, benefits for students beyond learning to teach, and evidence of effective engagement in medical students' designing and implementing programs.

Knowledge syntheses in medical education: A bibliometric analysis.

PURPOSE: This bibliometric analysis maps the landscape of knowledge syntheses in medical education. It provides scholars with a roadmap for understanding where the field has been and where it might go in the future, thereby informing research and educational practice. In particular, this analysis details the venues in which knowledge syntheses are published, the types of syntheses conducted, citation rates they produce, and altmetric attention they garner. METHOD: In 2020, the authors conducted a bibliometric analysis of knowledge syntheses published in 14 core medical education journals from 1999 to 2019. To characterize the studies, metadata were extracted from PubMed, Web of Science, Altmetrics Explorer, and Unpaywall. RESULTS: The authors analyzed 963 knowledge syntheses representing 3.1% of the total articles published (n = 30,597). On average, 45.9 knowledge syntheses were published annually (SD = 35.85, median = 33), and there was an overall 2620% increase in the number of knowledge syntheses published from 1999 to 2019. The journals each published, on average, a total of 68.8 knowledge syntheses (SD = 67.2, median = 41) with Medical Education publishing the most (n = 189; 19%). Twenty-one types of knowledge synthesis were identified, the most prevalent being systematic reviews (n = 341; 35.4%) and scoping reviews (n = 88; 9.1%). Knowledge syntheses were cited an average of 53.80 times (SD = 107.12, median = 19) and received a mean Altmetric Attention Score of 14.12 (SD = 37.59, median = 6). CONCLUSIONS: There has been considerable growth in knowledge syntheses in medical education over the past 20 years, contributing to medical education's evidence base. Beyond this increase in volume, researchers have introduced methodological diversity in these publications, and the community has taken to social media to share knowledge syntheses. Implications for the field, including the impact of synthesis types and their relationship to knowledge translation, are discussed.

Bibliometric Analysis of Research Studies Based on Federally Funded Children's Health Surveys.

OBJECTIVE: Bibliometric analyses are commonly used to measure the productivity of researchers or institutions but rarely used to assess the scientific contribution of national surveys/datasets. We applied bibliometric methods to quantify the contributions of the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN) to the body of pediatric health-related research. We also examined dissemination to nonresearch audiences by analyzing media coverage of statistics and research produced from the surveys. METHODS: We conducted a search of the Web of Science database to identify peer-reviewed articles related to the NSCH and NS-CSHCN published between 2002 and 2019. We summarized information about citation counts, publishing journals, key research areas, and institutions using the surveys. We used the Lexis Advance database Nexis to assess media coverage. RESULTS: The publication set included 716 NSCH/NS-CSHCN journal articles published between 2002 and June 2019. These publications have in turn been cited 22,449 times, including in 1614 review articles. Over 180 journals have published NSCH/NS-CSHCN articles, and the most commonly covered research areas are in pediatrics; public, environmental and occupational health; psychology; and health care sciences and services. Over 500 institutions have used NSCH/NS-CSHCN data to publish journal articles, and over 950 news media articles have cited statistics or research produced by the surveys. CONCLUSIONS: NSCH/NS-CSHCN data are widely used by government, academic, and media institutions. Bibliometric methods provide a systematic approach to quantify and describe the contributions to the scientific literature made possible with these data.

Examining the readiness of best evidence in medical education guides for integration into educational practice: A meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND: To support evidence-informed education, health professions education (HPE) stakeholders encourage the creation and use of knowledge syntheses or reviews. However, it is unclear if these knowledge syntheses are ready for translation into educational practice. Without understanding the readiness, defined by three criteria-quality, accessibility and relevance-we risk translating weak evidence into practice and/or providing information that is not useful to educators. METHODS: A librarian searched Web of Science for knowledge syntheses, specifically Best Evidence in Medical Education (BEME) Guides. This meta-synthesis focuses on BEME Guides because of their explicit goal to inform educational practice and policy. Two authors extracted data from all Guides, guided by the 25-item STructured apprOach to the Reporting In healthcare education of Evidence Synthesis (STORIES). RESULTS: Forty-two Guides published in Medical Teacher between 1999 and 2017 were analyzed. No Guide met all STORIES criteria, but all included structured summaries and most described their literature search (n = 39) and study inclusion/exclusion (n = 40) procedures. Eleven Guides reported the presence of theory and/or educational principles, and eight consulted with external subject matter experts. Accessibility to each Guide's full-text and supplemental materials was variable. DISCUSSION: For a subset of HPE knowledge syntheses, BEME Guides, this meta-synthesis identifies factors that support readiness and indicates potential areas of improvement, such as consistent access to Guides and inclusion of external subject matter experts on the review team. This analysis is useful for understanding the current readiness of HPE knowledge syntheses and informing future reviews to evolve so they can catalyze translation of evidence into educational practice.