Use of evidence in health professions education: Attitudes, practices, barriers and supports

Abstract

Introduction: Health professions educators are increasingly called upon to apply an evidence-informed approach to teaching and assessment practices. There is scant empirical research exploring educators' attitudes, practices, and perceived barriers and supports to using research evidence in educational practice. Methods: We conducted a survey of AMEE members to explore three domains related to evidence-informed health professions education: (1) attitudes; (2) practices; and (3) supports and barriers. Analyses involved descriptive statistics to characterize participants' responses per domain. Chi-Square statistics were carried out to examine differences among the demographic variables on a subset of items in each of the three survey sections. Results: Three hundred ninety-six ($10%) participants representing health professions educators (HPEs) and non HPEs (e.g. PhDs) and different roles (e.g. teacher, administrator) completed the survey. Attitudes toward evidence-informed HPE were generally favorable. Several barriers preclude participants from engaging in evidence-informed approaches to health professions education (HPE). Discussion: This study provides preliminary evidence on the attitudes toward and perceived barriers and supports of research use in HPE from different groups of HP educators, clinicians, and administrators. The findings for each of the three domains require additional exploration using qualitative methodologies. Conclusion: Targeted interventions designed to increase the uptake of research in HPE should consider different stakeholder groups' perceptions regarding these approaches, current vs. best practices, and factors that may impede evidenceinformed approaches.

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“…9 These barriers are in line with those reported in emerging research in other areas of HPE exploring the factors that support or hinder Evidence Informed HPE. 77,78 In some instances, what was seen as a barrier could also be -in different contexts or under different circumstances -a facilitator.…”

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“…Concerns have emerged over time that there may be a knowledge translation problem in medical education [12][13][14][15][16] with this gap between research and practice having been identified in the medical education literature. [17][18][19] Indeed, our results are not dissimilar from a single centre study conducted by Nelson and et al almost 30 years ago, 20 where none of 14 medical school pre-clinical course directors were familiar with any current education research. The authors found that the course directors did not find medical education research particularly relevant to their teaching.…”

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“…The process of the curriculum integration and change may be greatly enhanced by the EIHPE approach 15 . This process demands changes on both organizational and individual levels, dedication of time for faculty development, financial and educational resources, energy, expertise, and support from educational leadership (e.g., deans and their academic team) 16,17 .…”