Medical Education Research as an Interdisciplinary Field

Medical education research is an interdisciplinary field that draws on education, social sciences, psychology, and clinical practice to explore how we educate and support healthcare professionals across all stages of their careers. Research in this field informs teaching and assessment and shapes healthcare training, workforce development, and patient care. This talk will introduce key research methods and provide examples of research we have conducted at the UCL Medical School. We will cover quantitative approaches, such as the use of large longitudinal databases to track how UK medical school admissions by socioeconomic background have changed over time, and qualitative approaches, such as the use of interviews and focus groups to explore how healthcare professionals manage interruptions during patient consultations.

Dr. Shaun Boustani is a postdoctoral research fellow at University College London (UCL) dedicated to enhancing medical education through research-backed approaches. His expertise lies in cognitive psychology, where he has extensively researched the intricacies of human memory and education, aiming to integrate these findings into new teaching practices.