Update in internal medicine residency education: a review of the literature in 2010 and 2011.

Background: Evidence-based practice in education requires high-quality evidence, and many in the medical education community have called for an improvement in the methodological quality of education research.

Objective: Our aim was to use a valid measure of medical education research quality to highlight the methodological quality of research publications and provide an overview of the recent internal medicine (IM) residency literature.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and PreMEDLINE to identify English-language articles published in the United States and Canada between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2011, focusing on IM residency education. Study quality was assessed using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI), which has demonstrated reliability and validity. Qualitative articles were excluded. Articles were ranked by quality score, and the top 25% were examined for common themes, and 2 articles within each theme were selected for in-depth presentation.

Results: The search identified 731 abstracts of which 223 articles met our inclusion criteria. The mean (±SD) MERSQI score of the 223 studies included in the review was 11.07 (±2.48). Quality scores were highest for data analysis (2.70) and lowest for study design (1.41) and validity (1.29). The themes identified included resident well-being, duty hours and resident workload, career decisions and gender, simulation medicine, and patient-centered outcomes.

Conclusions: Our review provides an overview of the IM medical education literature for 2010-2011, highlighting 5 themes of interest to the medical education community. Study design and validity are 2 areas where improvements in methodological quality are needed, and authors should consider these when designing research protocols.