The Council of Residency Directors in Emergency Medicine (CORD) recently partnered with the AAMC to create a unique experience to fulfill an important faculty development need within emergency medicine. This joint venture adds the experiential dimension of a mentored education research project to the traditional independent learner model of the MERC workshops. Collaborative groups, each with multi-institutional representation are developed based on a common area of interest. Specialty specific mentors guide each group from initial research hypothesis generation through publication. Several programs have demonstrated that collaborative research projects appear to be an effective, problem based approach to learning research methods that facilitate ongoing networks of researchers. The goals of the MERC at CORD Scholars Program include: 1) to develop a venue to support individual faculty development, 2) to promote medical education research within the specialty of Emergency Medicine, 3) to create a community of medical education researchers/mentors and 4) to facilitate collaboration and multi-institutional research.
The Medical Education Research Certificate program is intended to provide the knowledge necessary to understand the purposes and processes of medical education research, to become informed consumers of the medical education research literature, and to be effective collaborators in medical education research. By itself, the MERC is not intended to produce independent medical education researchers. The program is open to all who are interested in improving their educational research skills and is targeted for those with a background in medical education but relatively less experience in conducting educational research. The courses are targeted for clinicians and other educators who desire to learn research skills that will enable collaborative participation in medical education research projects.
The curriculum of the program consists of a set of workshops, each of which focuses on a key skill or area in educational research. Workshops are typically three hours in length and are facilitated by an experienced medical education researcher. The workshops emphasize opportunities for hands-on activities and active participation so as to maximize the applicability of the workshop principles. Six workshops of the participant's choosing are required for the certificate. These can be taken in any order.
This program is a professional development opportunity for those Emergency Physicians who are serious about taking the next step in developing the tools/skills necessary to contribute to education research. As such, it is a substantive commitment of time and energy over the coming year.
For online registration to attend CORD sponsored workshop(s). We accept Visa, Mastercard, American Express or check. Please indicate the workshop date and event and attendee name on your check. Mail checks to CORD, 4950 W. Royal Lane, Irving, TX 75063.