Social network analysis of publication collaboration of accelerating change in MedEd consortium

Abstract

Introduction

The American Medical Association formed the Accelerating Change in Medical Education Consortium through grants to effect change in medical education. The dissemination of educational innovations through scholarship was a priority. The objective of this study was to explore the patterns of collaboration of educational innovation through the consortium’s publications.

Method

Publications were identified from grantee schools’ semi-annual reports. Each publication was coded for the number of citations, Altmetric score, domain of scholarship, and collaboration with other institutions. Social network analysis explored relationships at the midpoint and end of the grant.

Results

Over five years, the 32 Consortium institutions produced 168 publications, ranging from 38 papers from one institution to no manuscripts from another. The two most common domains focused on health system science (92 papers) and competency-based medical education (30 papers). Articles were published in 54 different journals. Forty percent of publications involved more than one institution. Social network analysis demonstrated rich publishing relationships within the Consortium members as well as beyond the Consortium schools. In addition, there was growth of the network connections and density over time.

Conclusion

The Consortium fostered a scholarship network disseminating a broad range of educational innovations through publications of individual school projects and collaborations.

Keywords:

• Social network
• undergraduate medical education
• consortium

Acknowledgment

The authors acknowledge Courtney Blondino and Michael Dekhtyar for assistance with data management.

Prior presentation

AAMC November 2019.

IRB

This was non- human subjects research using publicly available data at the level of institutions.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no declarations of interest to report.

Glossary

Social network analysis: Is the analysis of the interactions and connections between each of the members of the network.

Consortium: Is a formal alliance of organizations and individuals coming together to achieve specific objectives, often with funding to support that work.

Appendix 1. Table of networked papers (Title, Journal, by Year) Appendix table (see PDF).

Data availability statement

Data is not available.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the American Medical Association’s Accelerating Change in Medical Education through grants to the 32 consortium schools as part of the consortium. Dr. Santen received funding through VCU from CTSA award No. UL1TR002649 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Notes on contributors

Sally A. Santen

Sally A. Santen, MD, PhD, is senior associate dean, assessment, evaluation and scholarship, and professor of emergency medicine, Virginia Commonwealth School of Medicine, professor of emergency medicine, University of Cincinnati, and consultant, American Medical Association.

Jeff Smith

Jeffery S. Smith, MBA, PhD, is professor and chair, supply chain management, Virginia Commonwealth School of Business.

Jeff Shockley

Jeff Shockley, MBA, PhD, is associate professor, supply chain management, Virginia Commonwealth School of Business.

John W. Cyrus

John W. Cyrus, MA, MLIS, is assistant professor and research and education librarian, Virginia Commonwealth University Tompkins-McCaw Library for the Health Sciences.

Kimberly D. Lomis

Kimberly D. Lomis, MD, is vice president, undergraduate medical education innovations, American Medical Association American Medical Association.

Martin Pusic

Martin Pusic, MD, PhD, was associate professor of emergency medicine & pediatrics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine and is associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine, Harvard Medical School.

George C. Mejicano

George C. Mejicano, MD, MS, is professor of medicine and senior associate dean for education, Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.

Luan Lawson

Luan Lawson, MD, MAEd, is associate dean, curricular innovation in medical education, and associate professor of emergency medicine, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University.

Bradley L. Allen

Bradley L. Allen, MD, PhD, is senior associate dean for medical student education and associate professor of clinical medicine and infectious diseases, Indiana University School of Medicine.

Susan Skochelak

Susan E. Skochelak, MD, is Senior Associate Dean for Medical Student Education, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.