Acad Med. 2024 Nov 1;99(11):1177-1180. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000005850. Epub 2024 Sep 6.
During the past several decades, medical education research has advanced in many ways. However, the field has struggled somewhat with translating knowledge into practice. The field has tremendous potential to generate insights that may improve educational outcomes, enhance teaching experiences, reduce costs, promote equity, and inform policy. However, the gap between research and practice requires attention and reflection. In this commentary, the authors reflect on ways that medical education researchers can balance relevance and rigor, while discussing a potential path forward. First, medical education research can learn from implementation science, which focuses on adopting and sustaining best practices in real-world settings. Second, gaining a deeper understanding of the complex and dynamic ways that medical education contexts may influence the uptake of research findings into practice would facilitate the translation and mobilization of knowledge into practical settings. Third, moving from unilateral knowledge translation to participatory knowledge mobilization and engaging diverse stakeholders as active participants in the research process can also enhance impact and influence research findings. Overall, for medical education research to effect meaningful change, it must transition from producing generalizable findings to generating context-specific insights and embracing participatory knowledge mobilization. This shift will involve rethinking traditional research approaches and fostering collaboration with knowledge users to cocreate and implement innovative solutions tailored to their unique settings.
在过去的几十年中，医学教育研究在许多方面都取得了进展。然而，该领域在将知识转化为实践方面仍存在一些困难。该领域有很大的潜力产生见解，可能改善教育成果、增强教学体验、降低成本、促进公平，并为政策提供信息。然而，研究与实践之间的差距需要关注和反思。在这篇评论中，作者反思了医学教育研究人员如何在注重相关性和严谨性之间取得平衡，并讨论了一种潜在的前进道路。首先，医学教育研究可以从实施科学中吸取经验，实施科学侧重于在现实环境中采用和维持最佳实践。其次，更深入地了解医学教育背景可能影响研究结果在实践中的应用的复杂和动态方式，将有助于将知识转化和调动到实际环境中。第三，从单向的知识转化到参与式的知识调动，并让不同的利益相关者作为研究过程的积极参与者，也可以增强影响力并影响研究结果。总的来说，为了使医学教育研究产生有意义的变革，它必须从产生可推广的发现转变为产生具体背景的见解，并采用参与式的知识调动。这一转变将涉及重新思考传统的研究方法，并与知识使用者合作，共同创造和实施针对其独特环境的创新解决方案。
