GEOFF NORMAN McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada CEES VAN DER VLEUTEN University of Maastricht, Netherlands DA VID NEWBLE University of Sheffield, England The International Handbook of Research in Medical Education is a review of current research findings and contemporary issues in health sciences education. The orientation is toward research evidence as a basis for informing policy and practice in education. Although most of the research findings have accrued from the study of medical education, the handbook will be useful to teachers and researchers in all health professions and others concerned with professional education. The handbook comprises 33 chapters organized into six sections: Research Traditions, Learning, The Educational Continuum, Instructional Strategies, Assessment, and Implementing the Curriculum. The research orientation of the handbook will make the book an invaluable resource to researchers and scholars, and should help practitioners to identify research to place their educational decisions on a sound empirical footing. THE FIELD OF RESEARCH IN MEDICAL EDUCAnON The discipline of medical education began in North America more than thirty years ago with the founding of the first office in medical education at Buffalo, New York, by George Miller in the early 1960s. Soon after, large offices were established in medical schools in Chicago (University of Illinois), Los Angeles (University of Southern California) and Lansing (Michigan State University). All these first generation offices mounted master's level programs in medical education, and many of their graduates went on to found offices at other schools.

Medical education has grown expeditiously in the last decade, triggered by innovations in educational approaches, such as problem-based learning (PBL) and community-based education (CBE). This had led to medical schools establishing departments for medical education and developing special introductory courses for undergraduate curricula. As a result, an enormous amount of literature is now available for teachers and medical educators, but only a limited amount of medical education material is aimed directly at at students. The International Handbook of Medical Education takes the lead by giving students access to basic medical education, knowledge and skills, presented in a simple and interactive format. The Handbook provides students with a tool to guide them on the road to success during their academic lives and beyond by helping to improve study skills, such as reading, writing, searching and research, and giving students essential information on assessment skills, such as answering multiple-choice questions and preparing for objective structured clinical examination. With this handbook, students will develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes that will advance their care

Twenty-first century medical schools, postgraduate bodies and other medical education organisations are responding to rapid advances in medicine, healthcare delivery, educational approaches and technology, and globalisation. Differences in geography, culture, history and resources demand diversity amongst educational systems. This important volume is designed to help medical educators working in today’s challenging circumstances by providing an overview of best practices and research in medical education. Routledge International Handbook of Medical Education provides a practical guide to and theoretical support for the major education challenges facing teachers, managers and policy makers around the world. Highlighting how resources can be used to provide effective and sustainable responses to the key issues facing medical educators, the handbook offers a truly international perspective of best practices with contributing editors and authors from around the globe. Routledge International Handbook of Medical Education recognises the need to maintain established best practices when appropriate and to respond adaptively to cultural differences and local conditions facing medical education. This topical book deals with the key challenges facing medical education by the different stakeholders including: - selection and admission of students to study medicine; - competences necessary for graduates to enable them to recognize and address emerging health issues and policies; - teaching and learning processes that are necessary to meet tomorrow's challenges; - approaches to assessment, including the integration of assessment and learning; - design and management of complex curricula that provide educational strategies to meet regional and global problems. A unique, diverse and illustrative resource of best practices in medical education, the handbook is stimulating reading for all educators of present and future health care professionals.

Increasing interdependence and rapidly changing relationships among nations have given rise to growing concerns about health problems worldwide. Medical education is central to the future provision of health services in the emerging world order. This major reference work presents the history, evolution, current status, and future direction of medical education in 28 countries around the world, and describes current issues and trends in each. The countries profiled represent a broad range of political, economic, and social conditions. Following introductory overviews and discussions of global issues in medical education and evaluation, each chapter describes the health care delivery system; role of national policy; undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education; licensure and certification; and international linkages in a particular country. Each chapter includes detailed statistical information and extensive references to additional resources about each country. The volume also includes comprehensive information about relevant national and international organizations, institutions, and govenment agencies that influence medical education policy determination and implementation; it provides basic biblographic source material for all major topics and for each country.

The International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning discusses what constitutes professionalism, examines the concepts and practices of professional and practice-based learning, including associated research traditions and educational provisions. It also explores professional learning in institutions of higher and vocational education as well the practice settings where professionals work and learn, focusing on both initial and ongoing development and how that learning is assessed. The Handbook features research from expert contributors in education, studies of the professions, and accounts of research methodologies from a range of informing disciplines. It is organized in two parts. The first part sets out conceptions of professionalism at work, how professions, work and learning can be understood, and examines the kinds of institutional practices organized for developing occupational capacities. The second part focuses on procedural issues associated with learning for and through professional practice, and how assessment of professional capacities might progress. The key premise of this Handbook is that during both initial and ongoing professional development, individual learning processes are influenced and shaped through their professional environment and practices. Moreover, in turn, the practice and processes of learning through practice are shaped by their development, all of which are required to be understood through a range of research orientations, methods and findings. This Handbook will appeal to academics working in fields of professional practice, including those who are concerned about developing these capacities in their students. In addition, students and research students will also find this Handbook a key reference resource to the field.

The content of medical education knowledge transfer is compounded as medical breakthroughs constantly impact treatment, and new diseases are discovered at an increasingly rapid pace. While much of the knowledge transfer remains unchanged throughout the generations, there are unique hallmarks to this generation’s education, ranging from the impact of technology on learning formats to the use of standardized patients and virtual reality in the classroom. The Handbook of Research on the Efficacy of Training Programs and Systems in Medical Education is an essential reference source that focuses on key considerations in medical curriculum and content delivery and features new methods of knowledge and skill transfer. Featuring research on topics such as the generational workforce, medical accreditation, and professional development, this book is ideally designed for teachers, physicians, learning practitioners, IT consultants, higher education faculty, instructional designers, school administrators, researchers, academicians, and medical students seeking coverage on major and high-profile issues in medical education.

Researching Medical Education is an authoritative guide to excellence in educational research in the health professions. Presented by the Association for the Study of Medical Education and the Association for Medical Education in Europe, Researching Medical Education includes contributions from a team of international clinicians and non-clinical researchers in health education, representing a range of disciplines and backgrounds. This accessible reference provides readers with the basic building blocks of research, introduces a range of theories and how to use them, illustrates a diversity of methods and their use, and gives guidance on practical researcher development. By linking theory and design and methods across the health profession education research spectrum, this book supports the improvement of quality, capacity building and knowledge generation. Researching Medical Education is the ideal resource for anyone researching health education, from undergraduate, through postgraduate training, to continuing professional development.