The Department of Medical Education at the University of Michigan Medical School: A case study in medical education research productivity

The Department of Medical Education (DME) at the University of Michigan Medical School has a strong and sustained history of contributing to medical education research. The author identifies several dimensions that contribute to this productivity: (1) the quality of department faculty and the complementary areas of expertise they possess; (2) a critical mass of educational scholars, both within and outside the DME; (3) extensive collaborations of DME faculty with colleagues in other departments on educational innovation; (4) the departmental status of the DME; (5) the separation of the DME from the administration of the curriculum; (6) the need to balance the missions of research and educational support of the medical school; (7) the research-intensive nature of the larger University of Michigan environment; (8) the complex challenge of funding the educational scholarship mission; and (9) the importance of maintaining visibility within the institution. Factors that wilt affect the health of future educational scholarship include (1) the response to the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's definition of resident competencies and similar initiatives; (2) the growth of opportunities for advanced training in educational scholarship and the corresponding expansion of medical school faculty with greater interest and skills in educational research; (3) an emerging emphasis on the importance of behavioral science in medical care; (4) demands on the clinical productivity of collaborating faculty; and (5) the paucity of funding for medical education research.