Defining A Core Curriculum for Education Scholarship Fellowships in Emergency Medicine

Abstract

A trained cadre of medical education scholars with a focus on methodologically sound research techniques is needed to ensure development of innovations that can be translated to educational practice, rigorous evaluation of instructional strategies, and progress toward improving patient care outcomes. Most established educational programs are aimed at existing faculty members and focus primarily on the development of teaching and leadership skills. At the 2012 Academic Emergency Medicine (AEM) consensus conference, “Education Research in Emergency Medicine: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies for Success,” a breakout session was convened to develop training recommendations for postgraduate fellowship programs in medical education scholarship that would enable residency graduates to join academic faculties armed with the skills needed to perform research in medical education. Additionally, these graduates would enjoy the benefits of established mentorships. A group of 23 medical education experts collaborated to address the following objectives: 1) construct a formal needs assessment for fellowship training in medical education scholarship in emergency medicine (EM), 2) compare and contrast current education scholarship programs in both EM and non‐EM specialties, and 3) develop a set of core curriculum guidelines for specialized fellowship training in medical education scholarship in EM. Fellowship‐trained faculty need to be proficient in learner instruction and assessment, organizational leadership, curriculum development, educational methodology, and conducting generalizable hypothesis‐driven research to improve patient care.

Characteristics and Core Curricular Elements of Medical Simulation Fellowships in North America

“…This skill set is similar to previously published studies on medical education fellowships. 13,14 However, two-thirds of all programs offer no formal training in the use of standardized patients.…”

Education Scholarship Fellowships: An Emerging Model for Creating Educational Leaders

“…Salary and benefits may be administered through the institution's department, graduate medical education office, or occasionally, extramurally. 12,16,36 New fellowship directors may benefit from published ESF curricula, implementation resources, and mentorship from existing directors to become familiar with best practices. 11,12,15,16,37 Implementing a new fellowship in an environment where there are few faculty with formal training may seem daunting, but directors can solicit support from faculty who have completed ESFs in other institutions and from local faculty who have engaged in longitudinal professional Challenges to the institution Institutions may lack funds and local faculty expertise to support an ESF.…”

Development of a Training Needs Assessment for an Education Scholarship Fellowship in Emergency Medicine

“…Some also offer or require completion of an advanced postgraduate degree. 18 Because these fellowship directors are familiar with the intricacies of finances, operations, and implementation for a training program in education, they will be able to provide a unique insight into the feasibility, challenges, and opportunities of implementing a formal education scholarship fellowship.…”

“…A review of their public descriptions indicated that they are nonuniform in training duration, curricular content, and education research emphasis. 18 All, however, require a significant investment by the trainee, educators, mentors, statisticians, and the department. Because an education scholarship fellow-ship will also likely be resource-intensive, careful consideration is warranted before implementing such training programs.…”