Toward setting a research agenda for systematic reviews of evidence of the effects of medical education

Purpose: To provide an update on, and a preliminary research agenda for, best evidence medical education (BEME). Summary Efforts related to evidence-based medical education are summarized briefly, including BEME, the newly formed Campbell Collaboration, and the Cochrane Collaboration's Effective Practice and Organization of Care review group. A list of topics and priorities for which evidence of effectiveness in medical education should be systematically reviewed is provided based on the results of a session at the July 2000 annual meeting of the Society of Directors of Research in Medical Education. The highest ranked topics clustered around four major conceptual areas: (a) curricular design, (b) learning and instructional methods, (c) testing and assessment, and id) outcomes. Conclusions: BEME is gaining momentum with growing numbers of people becoming involved as well as an increased number of pertinent workshops, publications, and Web sites. The work of creating pertinent systematic reviews of the medical education literature is at hand. Copyright (C) 2001 by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.