Introduction to the Theme for 2017: Advances in Evidence Based Health Sciences Education

Abstract

In 2015, Medical Science Educator introduced Bjournal sections^on a specific topic. These thematic sections are the successor of the special issues that were published annually over the past several years. The content for the thematic sections is solicited by a special call for manuscripts. In 2017, we are publishing a special journal section dedicated to the topic of BAdvances in Evidence Based Health Sciences Education.Î n this section, the journal would like to explore how evidence-based education is implemented in health curricula around the world.The concept of evidence-based education appears in the literature in the last years of the previous century with publications like Davies [1], Harden et al. [2], and Harden and Lilley [3]. It is also referred to as research-based or literature-based education. The idea behind evidence-based education is to use teaching methods based on significant and reliable evidence obtained from experiments in different learning environments. In this way, it can be defined as a set of principles and practices for enhancing educational practice. The demands nowadays being made upon teaching faculty and the educational system call out for our educational practice to be based on the best teaching evidence available.In this concept, there is a clear role for the peer-reviewed academic journals in medical education. These journals address the current educational issues and report on (scholarly) research using different methodologies. It is important that the educational research literature is indexed, classified, appraised, and accessible to educators in the entire health science education field, so that they can find and critically appraise it in order to determine its relevance to their own educational setting. I see this as the main goal of our journal, and I hope that the articles in this section are of interest to you.Peter GM de Jong, PhD Editor-in-Chief References 1. Davies P. What is evidence-based education? Br J Educ Stud. 1999;47(2)