Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Education Research: The Best Publications of 2013

Abstract

Objectives: The objective was to critically appraise and highlight methodologically superior medical education research articles published in 2013 whose outcomes are pertinent to teaching and education in emergency medicine (EM).Methods: A search of the English-language literature in 2013 querying Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), PsychINFO, PubMed, and Scopus identified 251 EM-related studies using hypothesis-testing or observational investigations of educational interventions. Two reviewers independently screened all of the publications and removed articles using established exclusion criteria. Six reviewers then independently scored the remaining 43 publications using either a qualitative a or quantitative scoring system, based on the research methodology of each article. Each scoring system consisted of nine criteria. Selected criteria were based on accepted educational review literature and chosen a priori. Both scoring systems used parallel scoring metrics and have been used previously within this annual review.Results: Forty-three medical education research papers (37 quantitative and six qualitative studies) met the a priori criteria for inclusion and were reviewed. Six quantitative and one qualitative study were scored and ranked most highly by the reviewers as exemplary and are summarized in this article.Conclusions: This annual critical appraisal article aims to promote superior research in EM-related education, by reviewing and highlighting seven of 43 major education research studies, meeting a priori criteria, and published in 2013. Common methodologic pitfalls in the 2013 papers are noted, and current trends in medical education research in EM are discussed.ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2014;21:1274-1283 by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine Q uality, hypothesis-driven education research is necessary to promote evidence-based decisions about effective ways to teach the physicians of tomorrow. Education research has gained increasing support and prominence in emergency medicine (EM) academia, with available grant opportunities from the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine and the Council of Emergency Medicine Residency Directors. Furthermore, the 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine consensus conference focused on the theme "Education Research in Emergency Medicine: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success" to promote a national initiative to advance the field of education research. 1 In this sixth installment of the annual critical appraisal series, the same six reviewers used previously published criteria 2 to critically analyze and rank the EM education research from 2013. The focus of this article is to review and highlight the methodologically superior studies that are pertinent to teaching and education in EM. Trends in EM education research over the past 6 years, as they can be inferred from this review, are summarized. It is METHODS Article IdentificationThe previously described methodology to search for relevant publications was used. 2 Publications...

Emergency Medicine Education Research Since the 2012 Consensus Conference: How Far Have We Come and What’s Next?

“…Additionally, there has been an overall increase in the quality of education research and expectations from EM and other fields . As consumers of research, educators are looking for more rigorous methods and conceptual frameworks in published research .…”

A writer’s guide to education scholarship: Qualitative education scholarship (part 2)

“…Since 2013, a group within the Academic Emergency Medicine journal has highlighted qualitative studies in their annual review of EM education papers. 9,10 Many qualitative methods draw from the social sciences, each method bringing with it the perspective of its originating field. Table 1 describes some of the commonly applied qualitative methods in education research and includes exemplar papers that fit within each paradigm.…”

Critical Appraisal of Emergency Medicine Educational Research: The Best Publications of 2016

“…In this ninth installment of the annual critical appraisal of the EM education research, we systematically analyze and rank the best publications of 2016. We used modified previously published criteria for qualitative and quantitative research studies similar to prior installments of this series . We also describe and summarize current trends in medical education research over the past year as they relate to EM learners and educators.…”