Medical teacher
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There is a growing desire for health professions educators to generate high-quality education research; yet, few of them encounter the training to do so. In response, health professions faculties have increasingly been devoting resources to provide members with the skills necessary for education research. The form and impact of these efforts have not been reviewed, though such a synthesis could be useful for practice. The objectives of this systematic review were to (1) identify interventions aimed at building capacity for education research among health professions clinical educators and (2) review the outcomes of these interventions. ⋯ This review demonstrates that various interventions can have a positive impact on the ability of health professions clinical educators to conduct education research. We note several key elements of the interventions including: (1) protected time, (2) mentorship and/or collaboration, (3) departmental and institutional commitment and leadership, and (4) financial support. Through our analysis we describe the complexities around evaluating clinical educators' health professions research activities and the interventions used to promote education research. While improved study quality would allow more detailed understanding and evaluation of these key features, we are able to provide recommendations for potential strategies for improving participation in and quality of health professions education research based on this analysis.
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There is a growing desire for health professions educators to generate high-quality education research; yet, few of them encounter the training to do so. In response, health professions faculties have increasingly been devoting resources to provide members with the skills necessary for education research. The form and impact of these efforts have not been reviewed, though such a synthesis could be useful for practice. The objectives of this systematic review were to (1) identify interventions aimed at building capacity for education research among health professions clinical educators and (2) review the outcomes of these interventions. ⋯ This review demonstrates that various interventions can have a positive impact on the ability of health professions clinical educators to conduct education research. We note several key elements of the interventions including: (1) protected time, (2) mentorship and/or collaboration, (3) departmental and institutional commitment and leadership, and (4) financial support. Through our analysis we describe the complexities around evaluating clinical educators' health professions research activities and the interventions used to promote education research. While improved study quality would allow more detailed understanding and evaluation of these key features, we are able to provide recommendations for potential strategies for improving participation in and quality of health professions education research based on this analysis.