Outcome assessment of medical education fellowships in emergency medicine

Introduction Despite emergency medicine (EM) medical education fellowships increasing in number, the position of the medical education fellowship director (FD) remains incompletely defined. The goal of this study was to characterize the roles, responsibilities, support, and priorities for medical education FDs. Methods We adapted and piloted an anonymous electronic survey consisting of 31 single‐answer, multiple‐answer, and free‐response items. The survey was distributed to FDs via listserv and individual emails from a directory compiled from multiple online resources. We used descriptive statistics to analyze data from items with discrete answer choices. Using a constructivist paradigm, we performed a thematic analysis of free‐response data. Results Thirty‐four medical education FDs completed the survey, resulting in a response rate of 77%. Thirty‐eight percent of respondents were female. Fifty‐three percent earned master's degrees in education and 35% completed a medical education fellowship. Most respondents held other education leadership roles including program director (28%), associate/assistant program director (28%), and vice chair (25%). Sixty‐three percent received support in their role, including clinical buy‐down (90%), administrative assistants (55%), and salary (5%). There was no difference (χ2 [2, n = 32] = 1.77, p = 0.41) between availability of support and type of hospital (community, university, or public hospital). Medical education FDs dedicated a median of 12 h per month to fellowship responsibilities, include education (median 35% of time), program administration (25%), research mentorship (15%), and recruitment (10%). Medical education FDs describe priorities that can be categorized into three themes related to fellows, fellowship, and institution. Conclusion This study provides insight into the current position and experience of medical education FDs. The results can clarify the role and responsibilities of FDs as the demand for medical education FDs increases.

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“…This number rose to 32 in 2019 6 . Currently, there are over 40 medical education fellowship programs 1 …”

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confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

A workforce study of emergency medicine medical education fellowship directors: Describing roles, responsibilities, support, and priorities

Golden

Diller

Riddell

et al. 2022

Is it worth it? A qualitative analysis of the impact of medical education fellowships on careers

Jordan

Gisondi

Buchanavage

et al. 2022

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Objectives: Medical education fellowships provide training in teaching, assessment, educational program administration, and scholarship. The longitudinal impact of this training is unknown. The objective of this study was to explore the impact of medical education fellowships on the careers of graduates. Methods:The authors performed a qualitative study with a constructivistinterpretivist paradigm using semistructured interviews in 2021. The authors used a purposeful randomized stratified sampling strategy of graduates to ensure diversity of representation (gender, region, fellowship duration, and career stage). Two researchers independently analyzed interview transcriptions using a modified grounded theory approach. Results:The authors interviewed 10 graduates and identified three overarching concepts: motivations for pursuing fellowship, benefits of training, and drivers of career development. Graduates sought training because of their desire for growth and career preparation and at the advice of mentors. Fellowships provided knowledge and skills in a structured learning environment, supported by mentors and a collaborative community. Fellowship training shaped the careers of graduates by increasing their self-efficacy, enhancing their outcome expectations, refining their goals, and influencing their professional identity formation. They acquired expertise that prepared them for jobs, developed credibility, felt competitive in the job market, anticipated successful promotion, reached for greater goals, broadened their educational worldview, and evolved their professional identity as a result of fellowship training. Conclusions: Fellowship training in medical education provides knowledge and skills, a structured learning environment, and important relationships that shape the careers of graduates by impacting their self-efficacy, outcome expectations, goal creation, and professional identity formation. INTRODUC TI ON The availability of formal postgraduate training in medical education grew significantly over the past few decades, resulting in the creation of more than 40 medical education fellowships in the field of emergency medicine (EM) alone. 1,2 Medical education fellowships offer many advantages, including professional development, protected time, dedicated mentorship, and continued clinical practice, all of which are important to early career success in academic medicine. 3-5 However, the impact fellowships have on graduates' careers is unclear. Prior research attempted to assess the outcomes of medical education fellowships in a number of ways, including studies of the curricular structure of these fellowships and cataloging the publications and other academic achievements of fellowship graduates and by soliciting the opinions of academic chairs. 2,4-10 Missing from this research are the perspectives of fellowship graduates on their own careers. They can also provide important insights to residents considering such training, inform departmental leaders contemplating a greater investment in medical educa...

Development of entrustable professional activities for emergency medicine medical education fellowships: A modified Delphi study

Villa,

Caretta‐Weyer,

Yarris

et al. 2024

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BackgroundIt is essential that medical education (MedEd) fellows achieve desired outcomes prior to graduation. Despite the increase in postgraduate MedEd fellowships in emergency medicine (EM), there is no consistently applied competency framework. We sought to develop entrustable professional activities (EPAs) for EM MedEd fellows.MethodsFrom 2021 to 2022, we used a modified Delphi method to achieve consensus for EPAs. EM education experts generated an initial list of 173 EPAs after literature review. In each Delphi round, panelists were asked to make a binary choice of whether to include the EPA. We determined an inclusion threshold of 70% agreement a priori. After the first round, given the large number of EPAs meeting inclusion threshold, panelists were instructed to vote whether each EPA should be included in the “20 most important” EPAs for a MedEd fellowship. Modifications were made between rounds based on expert feedback. We calculated descriptive statistics.ResultsSeventeen experts completed four Delphi rounds each with 100% response. After Round 1, 87 EPAs were eliminated and two were combined. Following Round 2, 46 EPAs were eliminated, seven were combined, and three were included in the final list. After the third round, one EPA was eliminated and 13 were included. After the fourth round, 11 EPAs were eliminated. The final list consisted of 16 EPAs in domains of career development, education theory and methods, research and scholarship, and educational program administration.ConclusionsWe developed a list of 16 EPAs for EM MedEd fellowships, the first step in implementing competency‐based MedEd.