Academic medicine : journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges
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Health care systems around the world are transforming to align with the needs of 21st-century patients and populations. Transformation must also occur in the educational systems that prepare the health professionals who deliver care, advance discovery, and educate the next generation of physicians in these evolving systems. Competency-based, time-variable education, a comprehensive educational strategy guided by the roles and responsibilities that health professionals must assume to meet the needs of contemporary patients and communities, has the potential to catalyze optimization of educational and health care delivery systems. ⋯ While the medical education community has embraced the notion of competencies as a guiding framework for educational institutions, the structure and conduct of formal educational programs remain more aligned with a time-based, competency-variable paradigm. The authors outline the rationale behind this recommended shift to a competency-based, time-variable education system. They then introduce the other articles included in this supplement to Academic Medicine, which summarize the history of, theories behind, examples demonstrating, and challenges associated with competency-based, time-variable education in the health professions.
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Manuscripts submitted to Academic Medicine (AM) undergo an internal editor review to determine whether they will be sent for external peer review. Increasingly, manuscripts are rejected at this early stage. This study seeks to inform scholars about common reasons for internal editor review rejections, increase transparency of the process, and provide suggestions for improving submissions. ⋯ Findings suggest that clear identification of a research question that is addressed by a well-designed study methodology on a topic aligned with the mission of the journal would address many of the problems that lead to rejection through the internal review process. The findings also align with research on external peer review.
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Physician-scientists are individuals who actively participate in patient care, have undergone additional research training, and devote the majority of their time to research. Physician-scientists are traditionally the primary catalysts in bridging the translational gap-that is, the failure to link fundamental new knowledge in the pathobiology of disease with advances in health care and health policy in a timely manner. ⋯ To this end, a Canadian national consensus conference was convened to develop recommendations for training programs and early-career supports for physician-scientists. Five recommendations were generated: (1) Establish an independent, national council whose mandate is to provide pan-Canadian oversight of physician-scientist training programs; (2) develop capacity for funding and mentorship support for physician-scientists; (3) develop coherent networks across a broad range of clinician-scientists, including physician-scientists, to reflect the unique cultural and geographic diversity of Canada and to reflect the interdisciplinarity of health research; (4) ensure that medical school curricula integrate, as a core curriculum feature, an understanding of the scientific basis of health care, including research methodologies; and (5) ensure that the funding of the physician-scientist trainee is viewed as portable and distinct from the operational funding provided to the training program itself.
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To assess the effect of community-based medical education as implemented by Michigan State University College of Human Medicine (MSU-CHM), which has immersed students in diverse communities across Michigan since its founding, on the physician workforce in the six communities in which clinical campuses were initially established. ⋯ This case study suggests that distributed medical education campuses can have a significant effect on the long-term regional physician workforce. Students' long-term practice choices may also reflect the patient populations and specialty patterns of the communities where they learn.
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Residency clinician-educator tracks have been created; however, they have generally been limited to a single discipline or program and experienced some challenges. The Graduate Medical Education Scholars Track (GMEST), an embedded longitudinal, multimodal, multidisciplinary clinician-educator track for residents, was piloted at the Pritzker School of Medicine, University of Chicago, in academic year 2014-2015. ⋯ The authors will longitudinally track graduates' future career positions, projects, publications, and awards, and cross-match and compare GMEST graduates with non-GMEST residents interested in medical education. Faculty mentors, program directors, and the Medical Education, Research, Innovation, Teaching, and Scholarship community will be asked for feedback on the GMEST.