Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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The Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale-Education (NOS-E) were developed to appraise methodological quality in medical education research. The study objective was to evaluate the interrater reliability, normative scores, and between-instrument correlation for these two instruments. ⋯ The MERSQI and NOS-E are useful, reliable, complementary tools for appraising methodological quality of medical education research. Interpretation and use of their scores should focus on item-specific codes rather than overall scores. Normative scores should be used for relative rather than absolute judgments because different research questions require different study designs.
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There is a recognized need to translate scientific discoveries to patient-oriented clinical research (POCR). Several obstacles interfere with the successful recruitment and retention of physicians for POCR careers. ⋯ Because mentorship is key to developing a successful career, the CRTI program is being modified to enhance longitudinal mentorship by CRTI faculty mentors and mentors at trainees' home institutions, as well as to encourage the establishment of collaborations and the potential for research project success. Efforts to make the CRTI experience available to more phy sicians, include more CRTI graduates as faculty, and increase participation by hematologists from backgrounds under represented in medicine are under way.
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Residency programs around the world use multisource feedback (MSF) to evaluate learners' performance. Studies of the reliability of MSF show mixed results. This study aimed to identify the reliability of MSF as practiced across occasions with varying numbers of assessors from different professional groups (physicians and nonphysicians) and the effect on the reliability of the assessment for different competencies when completed by both groups. ⋯ A feasible number of assessors per MSF occasion can reliably assess residents' performance. Scores from a single occasion should be interpreted cautiously. However, every occasion can provide valuable feedback for learning. This research confirms that the (unique) characteristics of different assessor groups should be considered when interpreting MSF results. Reliability seems to be influenced by the included assessor groups and competencies. These findings will enhance the utility of MSF during residency training.
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To understand the disciplinary contexts in which faculty work, the authors examined demographics, professional characteristics, research productivity, and advancement across seven clinical departments at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and nationally. ⋯ There were differences in demographics, professional characteristics, and advancement across clinical departments at HMS and nationally. The context in which faculty work, of which department is a proxy, should be accounted for in research on faculty career outcomes and diversity inclusion in academic medicine.