Medical Education Scholars in Pediatrics program offers its group support and guidance

Two people standing against a wall and smiling at the camera.
In the photo, left to right, are Sushant (Sush) Srinivasan, MD, MHPE, and Nicole (Nikki) St Clair, MD, MS.
Photo by Bob Gordon/Department of Pediatrics

 

The Medical Education Scholars in Pediatrics program (MESP) provides those interested and involved in medical education scholarship a structure in which they can engage with others, find comradery and support, and benefit from guidance from mentors in the field. Medical education scholarship is an aspect of scientific scholarship that differs from the more widely recognized bench science scholarship that is conducted in laboratories.

Nicole (Nikki) St Clair, MD, MS, associate professor in the Divisions of Hospital Medicine and Complex Care and Global Pediatrics, and Sushant (Sush) Srinivasan, MD, MHPE, associate professor in the Division of Critical Care, were both interested in medical education scholarship when they joined the Department of Pediatrics: Srinivasan in 2011 and St Clair in 2017. They didn’t know each other, but both realized independently that there was minimal existing structure to connect them with others in their scholarly interest. Fortuitously, they met, learned of their common interests, and began to initiate an infrastructure to support and promote medical education scholarship in the department.

“We were both noticing a gap,” Srinivasan explained. “For basic science or clinical research, there’s often an infrastructure, as well as people or mentors who can teach you how to do things. There are labs associated with basic science research. No such things existed for medical education scholarship.”

St Clair and Srinivasan started to generate ideas about how to support others with interests like theirs. These included the development of a community of practitioners and peers, as well as creating content that could be beneficial to the larger group.

“Whether or not you think you’re a good educator, the scholarship component addresses figuring out the effectiveness of your educational intervention,” St Clair explained. She described it as acknowledging the science of educational theory and curriculum development and finding mechanisms to measure the effectiveness of an educator’s intervention. “It could be tracking such things as satisfaction, knowledge gained, or improvement in clinical performance, among other things,” St Clair said.

Srinivasan noted, “Fundamentally, we are asking questions and generating hypotheses using the scientific method to evaluate anything from teaching methodologies to understanding phenomena about our residents or trainees.”

It is the scientific method that is key here: clarifying a question, developing a hypothesis, testing it through designed procedures, collecting data and results, and coming to conclusions, as all scientists do in their research process. There is simply not a laboratory bench involved.

The program is open to new participants and aims to raise awareness about its offerings and support. The program is administered by the department’s Professional Development team with the superlative assistance of Reva Finkelman and Kate Dougherty. The program’s mission is to develop and support a community of educators seeking to incorporate scholarship into their initiatives for the purposes of dissemination, growth, and promotion, with a vision of a collaborative and thriving community of educational scholars in the Department of Pediatrics.

There is an MESP session every month focused on writing or a topic of interest for medical education scholars. Recent session topics have included “A MadLibs Guide to Abstract Writing” and “Novel Application of Simulation Debriefing.” Archived sessions are available to watch through the MESP webpage.

Srinivasan and St Clair developed an overview of the sort of people who come to the program. They come with one of two different motivations: the first is the “carrot” path, in which they are very interested in doing medical education research and are looking for information and support. The second way is the “stick” path: they are considering what they need to do for promotion and know they must show some experience in research to be able to move forward. That is, they will use it to meet a requirement. Individuals on both paths are welcome, and the program supports and guides them in their progress toward their goals.

While the MESP at the Department of Pediatrics is not a pathbreaking program, it is not a common sort of program. In searching for a template to use to develop the program, both St Clair and Srinivasan noted that there were few examples to follow. While there are a few small programs similar to this one across the country, there are bigger, robust programs at larger institutions. These programs may offer certificates and are funded, with participants taking courses and paying fees. MESP participants do not have to follow a course of study or pay fees.

St Clair and Srinivasan are currently working on a guide entitled, “Resource Roadmap for Educational Scholars,” which will offer information guiding members to a host of independent learning opportunities. It will be available this winter. All department members who have an interest in the scholarly aspects of medical education and are interested in participating in the group are encouraged to consult the MESP webpage, or contact Srinivasan or St Clair.