Research in medical education: the challenge for the next decade.

As we enter a very turbulent period for medicine and medical education, it is essential that the importance and value of medical education research be demonstrated. Despite the billions of dollars that our society invests annually in medical education, medical education research, the "R & D" of medical education, is best with many problems. These include a low priority for academic medicine, underfunding, and insufficient consensus on goals and directions. More important, there is a notable lack of development of the theoretical base that should underlie such research. It is critical that the medical education research community, along with educators, academic administrators, and health policymakers, join to develop strategies and set priorities to enable medical education research to guide the future of medical education in a time of change and increased accountability.