Medical educators: How they define themselves – Results of an international web survey

Abstract

Background: Little is known about medical educators’ self-definition.

Aims: The aim of this study is to survey an international community of medical educators focusing on the medical educators’ self-definition.

Methods: Within a comprehensive, web-based survey, an open question on the participants’ views of how they would define a “medical educator” was sent to 2200 persons on the mailing list of the Association for Medical Education in Europe. The free text definitions were analysed using qualitative thematic analysis.

Results: Of the, 2200 medical educators invited to participate, 685 (31.1%) provided a definition of a “medical educator”. The qualitative analysis of the free text definitions revealed that medical educators defined themselves in 13 roles, primarily as “Professional Expert”, “Facilitator”, “Information Provider”, “Enthusiast”, “Faculty Developer”, “Mentor”, “Undergraduate and Postgraduate Trainer”, “Curriculum Developer”, “Assessor and Assessment Creator”, and “Researcher”.

Conclusions: Our survey revealed that medical educators predominantly define themselves as “Professional Experts” and identified 12 further self-defined roles of a medical educator, several of which not to have been reported previously. The results can be used to further the understanding of our professional identity.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank their many colleagues who freely gave their time in order to participate. The authors wish to acknowledge the generous assistance of Ron Harden and Pat Lilley for sharing the mailing list from AMEE 2005 for the present research. The authors would like to thank Yvonne Steinert for her helpful comments on the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank Anna Cranz for excellent proofreading.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.