Abstract
Background: Professional staff engaged in medical education research was important for enhancing the quality of medical education.
Aim: To look at the current condition of professional staff in medical education research units in China.
Methods: A total of 46 related-to-insiders in 46 medical schools completed a questionnaire including the affiliation and mission and activities of the units, and the number and characteristics of the professional staff.
Results: Of the 46 schools, 24 (52.2%) had independent medical education research units. Of the 170 staff in the 24 units (mean = 7.1), 43.5% achieved Bachelor's degree or less and 61.8% had senior-level title, 27.6% middle-level title, and 10.6% junior-level title. Of the 24 units, 4.2% did not have any full-time professional staff, 16.7% had 1–2 full-time professional staff, 4.1% did not have any professional staff achieved Master's degree and above, and 87.5% cited educational research, 70.8% program evaluation, 58.3% sponsoring journals 54.2% teaching, 45.8% teacher evaluation, 41.7% faculty development, and 33.3% student evaluation in their mission and activities statements.
Conclusion: The professional staff in medical education research units were insufficient in China. The composition of their education and professional title should be improved. The mission of the units was too narrow.
Introduction
China is an ancient country with a long history of both education and medicine. To enhance the quality of medical education, China pays much attention to reforms in medical education. Although a series of reforms in medical education were made before 1977, most of them were abandoned because of a shortage of scientific evaluation and the lack of a formal organizational structure (Gao et al. Citation1999). In the process of health care system modernization, medical education was given priority in China, and the Western model of establishing medical education research and development (MERAD) units as a means of improving the training of health professionals was introduced (Huang Citation1992).
It is obvious that modern medical education and its development should be based on the best available evidence in educational research and practice. In 1978, the first medical education research unit was set up in China's Shanghai First Medical University. Following this, more research units were created in other medical schools (Lam et al. Citation2006). A group of people were gathering in the MERAD field and MERAD units and beginning to take shape in modern China (Huang Citation1992). They engaged in medical education research, program evaluations, teacher and student evaluation, etc. (Yang et al. Citation1996). Professional staff in medical education research units were important for enhancing the quality of medical education in China.
However, few studies have focused on the current situation of professional staff in medical education research units in China. Our present study will begin by looking at the number and characteristics of the unit professional staff in China. We hope this research will allow readers to gain an awareness of the current situation of professional staff in medical education research units in China.
Methods
Subjects
In 2008, the related-to-insiders of 75 medical schools were telephoned by asking whether there were professional staff who engaged in medical education research in their schools. The related-to-insiders included the director of Dean's Office, the director of independent medical education research unit, and the professional staff engaged in medical education research in Institute for Higher Education or other units. This study was approved by the Biological and Medical Ethics Committee, Second Military Medical University. Of the 75 medical schools, 55 have professional staff who engaged in medical education research. A standardized questionnaire was sent to the related-to-insiders of the 55 medical schools by e-mail; however, only 46 responded and completed the questionnaire thoroughly. The response rate of effective questionnaires was 83.6% (46/55).
Instruments
The questionnaire included the affiliation of the medical education research units (independent medical education research unit; affiliated to the Dean's Office; affiliated to the Institute for Higher Education; having staff who engaged in medical education research, but without special unit/office), number of the professional staff (full-time staff and part-time staff, respectively), highest degree of the professional staff (Master's degree and above, Bachelor's degree or less), professional title of the professional staff (senior-level title, middle-level title, and junior-level title), professional background of the professional staff (medicine, education, management, information technology, mathematical statistics, literature/history/philosophy, psychology, sociology, and economics), reasons for reduction in force of the medical education research units (medical schools being merged into comprehensive universities, medical education research units being merged into administrative agencies, shrinkage functions, leads’ less attention, insufficient funds, and fewer staffing), mission and activities of the medical education research units (educational research, program evaluation, teaching, teacher evaluation, faculty development, student evaluation, education management and policy formulation, sponsoring journals of medical education, and service/technical support).
Data analysis
Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the affiliation of the medical education research units, number and characteristics of the unit professional staff in China. All data were analyzed with the SPSS 10.0 statistical analysis software package.
Results
The affiliation
Of the 46 medical schools, 24 (52.2%) had independent medical education research units, and the others had no independent medical education research units (32.6% affiliated to the Dean's Office, 6.5% affiliated to the Institute for Higher Education, and 8.7% having staff who engaged in medical education research, but without unit).
The number of professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units
There were 170 staff in the 24 independent medical education research units (mean = 7.1), which included 98 full-time staff (mean = 4.1 ± 2.2) and 72 part-time staff (mean = 3.0 ± 5.4). When distributions regarding the number of full-time staff in the 24 independent medical education research units were examined, it was seen that of the 24 independent medical education research units, 4.2% did not have any full-time staff, 16.7% had 1–2 full-time staff, 37.5% had 3–4 full-time staff, and 41.6% had 5–8 full-time staff. Distributions regarding the number of part-time staff in the 24 independent medical education research units were found to be 58.3% for 0 part-time staff, followed by 4.2% for 1–2 part-time staff, 16.3% for 3–4 part-time staff, and 20.9% for 5–21 part-time staff.
The reasons of reduction in force of the medical education research units
The main reasons for reduction in force of the medical education research units were leads’ less attention and insufficient funds ().
Table 1. Reasons of reduction in force of the medical education research units
The highest degree of the professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units
Of the 170 staff in the 24 independent medical education research units, more than half (66.5%) achieved Master's degree and above, and 43.5% achieved Bachelor's degree or less. When distributions regarding the education composition of the professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units were examined, it was seen that of the 24 independent medical education research units, 4.1% did not have any professional staff who achieved Master's degree and above, 33.3% had >50.0% and <100.0% professional staff whose highest degree were Bachelor's degree or less, 16.7% had 100.0% professional staff who achieved Master's degree and above ().
Table 2. Distributions regarding the education composition of the 24 independent medical education research units
The professional title of the professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units
Of the 170 staff in the 24 independent medical education research units, 61.8% were senior-level title, followed by 27.6% middle-level title and 10.6% junior-level title. From , it was seen that there were three units whose professional staff had all senior-level titles.
Table 3. Distributions regarding the professional title composition of the 24 independent medical education research units
The professional background of the professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units
From , the distributions of the professional staff's professional backgrounds were showed. Of the 24 units, 100.0 had professional staff with medicine background and 87.5% had professional staff with education background.
Table 4. Distributions regarding the professional background of the professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units
Mission and activities
Of the 24 independent medical education research units, 87.5% cited educational research and 70.8% cited program evaluation in their mission and activities statements. Other frequently stated mission and activities included sponsoring journals of medical education (58.3%), teaching (54.2%), teacher evaluation (45.8%), faculty development (41.7%), student evaluation (33.3%), service/technical support (16.7%), and education management and policy formulation (12.5%; ).
Table 5. Distributions regarding the mission and activities of the 24 independent medical education research units
Discussion
Medical education research units played an important role in medical education reforms and quality evaluation and assurance (Wolf et al. Citation2004; Davis et al. Citation2005). Medical education research units in developed countries were mainly responsible for educational research, faculty development, general educational consultation, program evaluation, curriculum development, service/technical support, teaching and innovation, etc. (Hunt et al. Citation2000; Larry 2007). Many medical schools in developed countries established their medical education research units long before. The Office of Research in Medical Education (ORME) at the University of Washington (UW) School of Medicine was founded in 1967, becoming the ninth such unit serving American medical schools, 8 years after the first offices were founded in 1959 (Hunt et al. Citation2000). The mission of the medical education research unit in UW includes: providing instruction to faculty and students through courses, faculty development workshops, performance-based teaching, and training medical education researchers and educators; conducting research into teaching and learning in a variety of settings; providing professional services to health sciences faculty, including course evaluation and test design, and scoring; and working in the medical school to develop innovations in biomedical and health informatics.
As a medical education research organization in abroad, the China Medical Board made great contributions to medical education research and reform in China. It was responsible for the field test of global minimum essential requirements (GMER) in China (Schwarz et al. Citation2007). It also gave a general overview of the evolution and present state of the undergraduate medical education system, programs, evaluation methods, and conferred degrees in contemporary China based on the information collected from on-site visits to eight leading medical universities, medical education conferences, visits to Ministries of Health and Education and their staff and the contribution of Chinese medical education experts (Schwarz et al. Citation2004).
In China, some medical schools still did not have any medical education research unit and professional staff engaged in medical education research. Especially after medical schools were merged into comprehensive universities, some medical education research units were canceled or combined. What is more, the mission of the existent medical education research units was narrow in China, and it mainly included educational research, program evaluation, sponsoring journals of medical education, teaching, teacher evaluation, and faculty development. The mission, especially the service mission, of medical education research units in China should be broadened and strengthened.
In medical education research units, professional human resource was the key factor. In school of medicine, University of Southampton, the Medical Education Development Unit (MEDU) consists of over 30 full and part-time staff, including clinical and non-clinical academic staff and support staff. In 2007, the Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education (SDRME) Executive Committee conducted a membership survey covering the period from January 1, 2003–December 31, 2004, which showed that the mean number of unit professional staff was 5 (Larry 2007). In China, the mean number of full-time professional staff in the 24 independent medical education research units was about 4; moreover, some units did not have any full-time staff, and some only had 1–2 full-time staff in the 24 independent medical education research units. The number of professional staff in medical education research units in China was smaller. The human resources engaged in medical education research in China were insufficient. From the main reasons for reduction in force of medical education research units, it was concluded that to increase the professional human resources in medical education research, the leads in medical schools should pay more attention to medical education research units and provide more financial support.
Besides the number of professional staff, the characteristics of professional staff including their highest degree and professional title were also important for the development of the medical education research units. The report of the 2004 Member Survey SDRME North American Units showed that of all the professional staff in the 25 medical education units, only 16% had Bachelor's degree or less (Larry 2007). Our results suggested that, in China, the percentage of the professional staff whose highest degree was Bachelor's degree or less was bigger. What is more, in some medical education research units, all of the professional staff's highest degree was Bachelor's or less. Medical education research units were mainly responsible for medical education research. The staff with the highest degree of Bachelor or less was lack of the capacity for conducting research. The greater the proportion of staff whose highest degree was Bachelor's or less was, the lower the quality and efficiency of the work was. The education level of the professional staff in medical education research units should be increased in China.
About the professional title of professional staff in the medical education research units, the report of the 2004 Member Survey SDRME North American Units showed that of all the professional staff in the 25 medical education units, 8% were professors, followed by 24% were associate professors, 46% were assistant professors, and 22% were instructors or other professional titles (Larry 2007), which suggested that the number of professional staff with senior-level title was smaller than that with middle-level title or junior-level title. But in our study, the number of professional staff with senior-level title was bigger than that with middle-level title or junior-level title in the medical education research units, from which it was concluded that the professional staff in medial education research units in China was aging. The medical education research units in China should enroll more young professional people, especially with higher education level.
About the staff's professional background in medical education research units, our research showed that it mainly included medicine, education, and management which was basically the same as the report of the 2004 Member Survey SDRME North American Units (Larry 2007). The professional background structure in medical education research units in China was basically consistent with the units’ mission and activities.
Conclusions
Based on the information obtained from the surveys, it was concluded that the professional human resources of medical education research units in China was not optimistic. First, the medical education research units were insufficient. More medical education research units should be set up in China. Second, the mission of the medical education research units was too narrow in China, and some of the missions and activities should be broadened and strengthened, especially the service mission. Third, the number of professional staff in medical education research units in China was small, and the leads in medical schools should pay more attention to medical education research units and provide more financial support. Fourth, the education level of the professional staff in medical education research units should be improved. Fifth, the staff's professional title composition in medial education research units was not reasonable, and the medical education research units should enroll more young professional staff, especially with higher education level.
Acknowledgment
The research was conducted at the Office of Medical Education, Training Department, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China.
Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Li-Juan Liu
LI-JUAN LIU wrote the article under the assistance of YUE WANG.
Mi Li
LI-JUAN LIU, MI LI, AND LI QU conducted the study.
Wei-Can Huang
YUE WANG, WEI-CAN HUANG, GUO-EN FANG, AND MI LI designed the study.
Guo-En Fang
YUE WANG, WEI-CAN HUANG, GUO-EN FANG, AND MI LI designed the study.
Li Qu
YUE WANG, WEI-CAN HUANG, GUO-EN FANG, AND MI LI designed the study.
Yue Wang
YUE WANG, WEI-CAN HUANG, GUO-EN FANG, AND MI LI designed the study.
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