The Evolving Definition of Education Scholarship: What the Clinician Educator Needs to Know

Medical education is faced with a growing number of challenges. The playing field that most of us know and recognize has been evolving over the past decade. Many of the truths we knew as educators are no longer accurate and we are faced with educating our learners in this new environment. Accreditation standards through national organizations are more rigorous and based on attainment of competency; therefore, outcome-based education has developed as a key factor. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) introduced the six domains of clinical competency to the profession, and in 2009 it began a multiyear process of restructuring its accreditation system to be based on educational outcomes in these competencies.1 The Liaison Committee on Medical Education in standard 6.1 of its Functions and Structure of a Medical School states that “the faculty of a medical school define its medical education program objectives in outcome-based terms that allow the assessment of medical students’ progress in developing the competencies that the profession and the public expect of a physician.”2 Both undergraduate and graduate medical education accreditation agencies are focusing on educational outcomes. It is no longer good enough to demonstrate that your learners performed the skills; now you must document Emory University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia Georgetown University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Washington, D.C. *