Medical education practice-based research networks: Facilitating collaborative research

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Practice points

Medical education practice-based research networks (MEPBRNs) offer exciting opportunities to conduct multi-site studies in medical education and provide meaningful scholarship for members. Faculty development for investigators at sites participating in MEPBRNs is necessary for network success. MEPBRNs require some central resources, and must select a funding model that is agreeable to network members and stakeholders. As MEPBRNs are relatively new, formal relationships among networks for sharing best practices and multi-network projects have yet to be established, and are likely to be an important future development.

Figure 1. Founding years and current membership size (as of July 2014) for 15 medical education practice-based research networks.

Table 1. Summary of existing medical education practice-based research networks.

Network name (acronym)	Sponsoring organizations	Founded	Focus	Members	Number of members	Contact URL
COntinuity Research NETwork (CORNET)	Academic Pediatric Association	2002	Pediatrics health care delivery, disparities, and resident education	Pediatrics continuity clinics (US)	105	http://www.ambpeds.org/research/research_cornet.cfm
Educational Innovations Project (EIP)	ACGME (Internal Medicine Residency Review Committee)	2006	Internal Medicine education, particularly GME	Internal Medicine residency programs (US), approved by RRC	18	http://www.im.org/AcademicAffairs/EducationalInnovations/Pages/default.aspx
Innovative Strategies for Transforming the Education of Physicians (ISTEP)	American Medical Association	2007	Medical education, all levels	Medical schools (North America)	41	http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/education-careers/istepinnovative-strategies-transforming-education-physicians.page
Medical Education Research Network (MedEdNet)	Oregon Health & Science University, Association of Family Medicine Residency Directors, American Board of Family Medicine	2007	Primary care education, particularly GME	Primary care residency programs (US)	39	https://fmresearch.ohsu.edu/medednet.org
Pacific Northwest Consortium for Outcomes in Residency Education (PNW-CORE)	American Board of Internal Medicine	2008	Internal Medicine GME	Internal Medicine residency programs (US)	9	None yet
Longitudinal Educational Assessment Research Network (APPD LEARN)	Association of Pediatric Program Directors	2009	Pediatrics education, particularly GME	Pediatrics residency programs (US)	123	http://learn.appd.org
Education in Pediatric Intensive Care (EPIC)		2011	Pediatric intensive care education	Pediatric critical care fellowship programs	40	http://epicstudy.com for current study; None yet for network.
International Network for Simulation-Based Pediatric Innovation, Research, and Education (INSPIRE)	RBaby Foundation & Laerdal Foundation	2011 (merger of EXPRESS, and POISE)	Simulation-based education in Pediatrics	Medical centers and schools (International)	112	http://inspiresim.com
Emergency Medicine Educational Research Group (EMERGe)	None	2012	Emergency Medicine	Emergency Medicine training programs	30	None yet
Educational Research Outcomes Collaborative (E-ROC)		2013	Internal Medicine, GME	Internal Medicine residency programs (US)	23	None yet
Canadian Network for Simulation in Healthcare (CNSH)	None	2012	Simulation (interprofessional)	Canadian investigators and institutions	Unknown	http://www.cnsh.ca
Center for the Advancement of Healthcare Education and Delivery PBRN (C-AHEAD)	None	2007	Family Medicine	Family Medicine practices and medical school programs	10	None currently
Western New York Pediatric Innovation Network (WNY-PIN)		2013	Pediatrics	Pediatric clinics (New York)	8	None identified
National Consortium for Multicultural Education for Health Professionals	NHLBI	2009	Health disparities	Medical schools (US)	18	http://culturalmeded.stanford.edu/about/initiatives.html
Collaborative of the Primary Care Training Collaborative (Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative)	Patient-Centered Primary Care Collaborative	2014	Educational outcomes of patient-centered medical homes	Network of 5 networks of practices	102 total (4, 10, 19, 25, and 44 in the member networks)	http://www.pcpcc.org/

Figure 2. The APPD LEARN de-identification process. Residency programs collect data on (identified) learners. Programs generate permanent non-reversible APPD LEARN data collection IDs for their learners and transmit study data, tagged by data collection ID, to APPD LEARN. APPD LEARN re-encrypts the data collection ID to a data storage ID, and archives study data, tagged by data storage ID, in the data repository.