Gaining ethics approval for health professions education research

Abstract

Within health professions education (HPE), there is a well‐established and expanding literature offering empirical evidence to inform pedagogic practice. Research ethics refers to the set of professional standards and principles that should be followed to ensure that work is conducted in a responsible and legitimate manner. Conducting scholarly inquiry within educational practice can be categorized as either research or evaluation, but boundaries between the two approaches may be blurred. Ethical risks in HPE research include coercion, psychological stress and infringement upon data privacy. This review considers ethical considerations at each stage of the research process and makes practical recommendations for the HPE researcher.

Embracing medical education research: gaps, needs and opportunities

“…It was with purposeful intent that Clinical and Experimental Dermatology rebranded itself a few years ago as the Dermatology Education journal to address the gap in high‐quality dermatology education literature. With this in mind, this issue of the journal contains four articles 1–4 to support and encourage colleagues to develop robust medical education research projects that will enhance our understanding of dermatology educational practice now and in the future.…”

“…The articles 1–4 will discuss issues that are pertinent to conducting high‐quality dermatology education research. They aim to provide those wishing to undertake this research to choose appropriate frameworks for educational studies.…”

“…Our hope is that these papers will provide a guide that expands the literature to progress educational practice for our specialty as a whole. The CPD module below should be completed once the review articles 1–4 have been read.…”