The quality of healthcare depends on the competences of the health professionals who take care of patients. The foundation for their competences is the quality of the education they received. Often their education takes place in learning environments that have not been objectively evaluated. Medical practice is continuously assessed and improved by research. Similarly, medical education should be evidence-based. Saudi Arabia has witnessed a rapid development in health care. Although medical professionals have made obvious contributions in scientific research, research in medical education is still lacking.
A search of the PubMed database for papers relating to medical topics in Saudi Arabia brought back more than 21,380 results; only 461 (0.02%) papers could be found relating to topics in medical education in Saudi Arabia (PubMed Citation2012). The need to encourage research in medical education in Saudi Arabia is, however, continuously being addressed (Bin Abdulrahman Citation2011).
Factors limiting research in medical education
Lack of funding: Many funding bodies including some academic institutions have been reluctant to give grants for research in medical education. Biomedical companies have little commercial interest in medical education.
Lack of research skills: Health professionals usually have little training in medical education research skills.
Publication issues: Writing skills in medical education may restrict some medical teachers in publishing their work. The limited numbers of peer-reviewed journals in medical education is another limiting factor for publication.
Lack of an academic recognition: Many universities still do not recognize and count publications in the field of medical education in their faculty promotion policy. Therefore medical teachers tend to focus on biomedical and clinical research.
Methodological issues: Designing appropriate controls for some educational interventions is difficult, as is blinding students to new educational technique allocation (Norman Citation2002). Using qualitative, quantitative or both is an issue as well.
Academic leaders should work together to overcome the above listed limitations. The Saudi Deans Committee has to be acknowledged for its recommendation of recognizing and encouraging research in medical education as part of faculty promotion policy in Saudi Universities.
Medical education research priorities
As in biomedical and clinical researches there should be a list of research priorities in the field of medical education at national and institutional level alike. Useful work has been done by Dr Al-Khuli's Chair for developing medical education in Saudi Arabia to summarize the list of research priorities in medical education.
Research questions related to curriculum issues:
Research questions related to student issues:
Research questions related to faculty issues:
Research questions related to Quality Assurance & Accreditation:
The value of the Medical Teacher Saudi Supplement
The Medical Teacher Saudi Supplement (MTSS) is an excellent example of successful collaboration between the International Association for Medical Education in Europe (AMEE), the Saudi Society for Medical Education (SSME) and Dr Al-Khuli's Chair for developing medical education in Saudi Arabia. The supplement aims at encouraging health professionals, in Arab countries, to conduct high-quality research in medical education. The supplement targets all health professionals in Saudi Arabia and Arab countries, particularly those involved in undergraduate and postgraduate education. Unsurprisingly, 37 manuscripts were submitted to the peer-reviewing process to be considered for publication in the first issue of the supplement. Thirteen papers, representing nine Saudi medical schools, were accepted after revision (37%). The accepted manuscripts cover many important aspects in medical education. There are five papers about student-related issues, three in postgraduate education, two in teaching and learning, one in student assessment, another one in education environment and one about faculty development. Hopefully this issue of the supplement will be of interest to all Medical Teacher readers.
The publication of this supplement has been made possible with the generous financial support of the Dr Hamza Alkholi Chair for Developing Medical Education in KSA.
Declaration of interest: The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this article.
References
- Bin Abdulrahman KA. Saudi Arabia does not need an Abraham Flexner. Med Teach 2011; 33: 74–75
- Norman GR. Research in medical education: Three decades of progress. BMJ 2002; 324: 1560
- PubMed. 2012. [Accessed 19 January 2012]. Available from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/.