Must Reads

What is a ‘Must Read’ for those interested in medical education?

Each month, we identify 3-4 noteworthy articles from the health professions education literature and label them as “must reads.” Selection is based on several criteria including originality and methodological rigor. Our process includes a formal search of the peer-reviewed literature, screening titles and abstracts, full text review, and an editorial meeting to achieve consensus.

Who are we and why are we doing this?

Our reviewers include individuals with expertise in teaching, educational oversight, and research as well as those who are beginning their careers as educational scholars.

The volume of health professions education articles has become overwhelming. In curating some of the best new published papers, we hope to make it easier for all of us to keep abreast of cutting edge educational scholarship and practices.

We’d welcome involvement in the selection process. If you are interested in supporting this work or have perspectives to share, please email Sean Tackett: stacket1@jhmi.edu. You can also follow @MedEdMustReads on X (aka Twitter) to be notified when new must read articles are selected.

(Current Reviewers: Kavita Chapla, Scott Kinkade, Andrew Klein, Viviane Liao, Emily Ma, Susan Mirabal, Amin Nakhostin-Ansari, Bridget O’Brien, Ashley Paul, Stasia Reynolds, Ben Roberts, Carolina Saldanha, Katherine Senko, Julia Shalen, Kiara Smith, Sean Tackett, Scott Wright)

Featured This Month

The Gist

• Interviews of 17 non-U.S. participants in a daily online clinical reasoning session.
• Described 4 themes: (1) clinical reasoning was a shared domain that (2) led to a sense of community and (3) desire to be a change agent, which could (4) expand global access to clinical reasoning education.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

Sound clinical reasoning is foundational to high quality healthcare and requires practice. This article illustrates how online options can bring together learners from around the world to share thoughts and enhance reasoning processes.

The Gist

• Document review, interviews, and focus groups to evaluate competency-based medical education (CBME) in 8 residency programs at a Canadian institution.
• Identified 3 themes of assessment burden and 27 corresponding adaptations that programs made.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

Medical education has many promising ideas, but translating them into practice can be difficult. This study’s rigorous evaluation generated constructive suggestions for those interested in implementing CBME.

The Gist

• Review of “workplace happiness” as described in psychology, sociology, economics, and organizational behavior literature.
• Happiness studies were rare in medical education and focused on psychological concepts.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

It may be taken for granted that we all want to be happy, but what happiness means is not the same for everyone. This article reminds us to understand individuals in their social contexts and take a holistic view of happiness and wellness.

Featured

The Gist

• Survey to determine how often interns in the U.S. with disabilities requested accommodations.
• Many respondents did not request accommodations, often due to fear of stigma and unclear institutional policies.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

A diverse population benefits from a diverse physician workforce. This study highlights that more must be done to support those with disabilities in clinical learning environments.

The Gist

• Evaluation of a 4-week intervention that included direct instruction and a learning diary intended for medical students in Iran who were in the bottom quartile of their class.
• The course was well-received, and some measures of self-regulated learning improved.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

All health professionals need to be skilled lifelong learners. This study suggests that programs structured around a learning diary can benefit those who may be struggling.

The Gist

• Innovation report describing the “Time-In” intervention, where anyone can pause a conversation to discuss biasing language.
• Pre-post surveys showed reduced perceptions of bias, and some groups felt more comfortable speaking up.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

We all have biases that require effort to notice and manage. The “Time-In” offers a simple method to raise awareness of biases in admissions discussions and may be used in a variety of settings.

The Gist

• Commentary providing an overview of fundamental concepts in assessment.
• Provides 12 recommendations organized in 5 domains that could lead to ideal assessment systems.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

Fair and valid assessment in medical education is critical to optimizing providers’ abilities and care they provide. This article’s synthesis of a broad literature base and multiple examples and frameworks would be useful to novice and expert educators.

The Gist

• Qualitative analysis of 34 health professions education articles that focused on Gen Z.
• Generational essentialism and othering were common and situating generational differences within larger patterns of social change was not.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

Stereotypes can harm relationships and prevent appreciation of individual differences and diversity. This article highlights the need to avoid generational stereotyping and to understand each person as influenced by changing contexts over time.

The Gist

• Commentary that defines Precision Medical Education as a new paradigm.
• Adapts the Precision Medicine P4 framework to suggest 4 dimensions of Precision Medical Education: Predictive, Proactive, Personalized, and Participatory.

WHY THIS IS A MUST READ

Advances in information technology and artificial intelligence offer potential for medical education to become more personalized. This article provides a framework for developing and evaluating data-driven innovations that make learning and assessment more efficient.