Changing landscape of medical conferences: identifying the goals motivating virtual vs in-person participation.

Objectives: This study was aimed at improving clarity regarding the goals underlying motivation for attendance at international meetings to accommodate evolving needs.

Methods: We performed a case study of a large international medical conference by undertaking (a) semi-structured interviews with 13 multi-disciplinary stakeholders, which underwent thematic analysis, and (b) surveys of 1229 conference attendees, which underwent descriptive statistical analysis and directed content analysis.

Results: Interviews suggested scientific updates and networking are priorities for in-person formats whereas flexibility and reduced travel are priorities for virtual formats.

Uncovering the components of therapeutic empathy through thematic analysis of existing definitions.

Objectives: To identify the components of therapeutic empathy based on a review of existing definitions.

Methods: A search for therapeutic empathy definitions was conducted in two stages. First, a list of empathy definitions from within healthcare contexts was compiled using existing systematic reviews and a database of empathy definitions.

Considerations of equity, diversity and inclusion in peer reviews conducted for Medical Education.

What equity, diversity and inclusion issues are commented upon by Med Educ's reviewers? This commentary offers an analysis and recommendations for authors, reviewers and editors alike.

Residents' perceptions of what makes feedback valuable in workplace-based learning: A discrete choice experiment.

Introduction: Research on feedback has shifted emphasis away from its 'delivery' to consideration of the interaction between individual learners and their 'feedback provider'. The complexity inherent in determining whether feedback is perceived as valuable by learners, however, can quickly overwhelm educators if every interaction must be considered completely idiosyncratic. We, therefore, require a better understanding of variability in the ways in which feedback is perceived.

From constructive to critical and everywhere in between: education leaders' decision-making related to harsh feedback from learners about their teachers.

Feedback from learners is important to support faculty development, but negative feedback can harm teachers' motivation, engagement, and retention. Leaders of educational programs, therefore, need to balance enabling students' voices to be heard with maintaining teachers' enthusiasm and commitment to teaching. Given the paucity of research to explain or guide this struggle, we explored why and how education leaders grapple with negative learner feedback received about their teachers.

A Phenomenological Exploration of Physicians' Moral Distress: Situating Emotion Within Lived Experiences.

Purpose: Physicians often experience moral distress from being prevented from taking what they believe to be the right course of action. Although causes and consequences of moral distress have been studied, little research offers insight into the significance of feeling morally challenged, especially in medicine. This study was undertaken to advance understanding of what physicians experience when encountering morally challenging situations and to examine how those experiences influence their interactions with the world of health care.

Voices of conference attendees: how should future hybrid conferences be designed?

Background: With conference attendees having expressed preference for hybrid meeting formats (containing both in-person and virtual components), organisers are challenged to find the best combination of events for academic meetings. Better understanding what attendees prioritise in a hybrid conference should allow better planning and need fulfilment.

Methods: An online survey with closed and open-ended questions was distributed to registrants of an international virtual conference.

Conceptualizing Educational Comparability in Distributed Health Professions Education: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: This study aimed to create greater clarity about the current understanding and formulate a model of how educational comparability has been used in the literature to inform practice.

Method: The authors conducted a literature search of 9 online databases, seeking articles published on comparability in distributed settings in health professions education before August 2021, with an updated search conducted in May 2023. Using a structured scoping review approach, 2 reviewers independently screened articles for eligibility with inclusion criteria and extracted key data.

Postgraduate Selection in Medical Education: A Scoping Review of Current Priorities and Values.

Purpose: The process of screening and selecting trainees for postgraduate training has evolved significantly in recent years, yet remains a daunting task. Postgraduate training directors seek ways to feasibly and defensibly select candidates, which has resulted in an explosion of literature seeking to identify root causes for the problems observed in postgraduate selection and generate viable solutions. The authors therefore conducted a scoping review to analyze the problems and priorities presented within the postgraduate selection literature to explore practical implications and present a research agenda.

When Feedback is Not Perceived as Feedback: Challenges for Regulatory Body-Mandated Peer Review.

Purpose: Safe and competent patient care depends on physicians recognizing and correcting performance deficiencies. Generating effective insight depends on feedback from credible sources. Unfortunately, physicians often have limited access to meaningful guidance.

Patient Engagement in Medical Trainee Selection: A Scoping Review.

Purpose: The stakes of medical trainee selection are high, making it ironic and somewhat paradoxical that patients and the public often get little say in selection practices. The authors sought to undertake a knowledge synthesis to uncover what is known about patient engagement across the medical trainee selection continuum.

Method: The authors conducted a scoping review aimed at exploring the current state of practice and research on patient engagement in medical trainee selection in 2017-2021.

Thresholds of becoming: an exploration of threshold concepts as a means to support professional identity formation in competency-based curricula.

Inherent in every clinical preceptor's role is the ability to understand the learning needs of individual trainees, enabling them to meet their potential. Competency-based medical education frameworks have been developed to this end, but efforts to identify behaviours and activities that define competence are based on mapping knowledge, skills and ability, which can be difficult to integrate into a comprehensive picture of who the trainee is becoming. Professional identity formation, in contrast, prioritizes attention to who trainees are becoming, but provision of detailed guidance to preceptors on how to best support this form of development is challenging.

Cliques within the crowd: identifying medical conference attendee subgroups by their motivations for participation.

Conferences enable rapid information sharing and networking that are vital to career development within academic communities. Addressing diverse attendee needs is challenging and getting it wrong wastes resources and dampens enthusiasm for the field. This study explores whether, and how, motivations for attendance can be grouped in relation to preferences to offer guidance to organizers and attendees.

Upward Feedback: Exploring Learner Perspectives on Giving Feedback to their Teachers.

Introduction: Feedback from learners is known to be an important motivator for medical teachers, but it can be de-motivating if delivered poorly, leaving teachers frustrated and uncertain. Research has identified challenges learners face in providing upward feedback, but has not explored how challenges influence learners' goals and approaches to giving feedback. This study explored learner perspectives on providing feedback to teachers to advance understanding of how to optimize upward feedback quality.

Technology and clinician-learner interaction: how clinicians expect introduction of a new electronic health record to affect educational practice.

Introduction: Electronic health records (EHRs) are increasingly common platforms used in medical settings to capture and store patient information, but their implementation can have unintended consequences. One particular risk is damaging clinician-learner-interactions, but very little has been published about how EHR implementation affects educational practice. Given the importance of stakeholder engagement in change management, this research sought to explore how EHR implementation is anticipated to affect clinician-learner interactions, educational priorities and outcomes.

To a fault.

Are first impressions misleading? This commentary explores that question by drawing on the more general cognitive psychology literature aimed at understanding when, why, and how any non-analytic reasoning process can help or hurt decision-making.