METRO--the creation of a taxonomy for medical education.
OBJECTIVE
There is a proven and immediate need for a shared vocabulary for medical education in the United Kingdom, both to support the practice of medical education and the research of medical education practice. It would be inefficient to create a complete and independent vocabulary from scratch, the proposed alternative being to create differential terms between the MeSH and BET vocabularies.


METHODS
Existing schemas were reviewed against the needs of stakeholders. Seed terms were submitted to the METRO work environment, discussed, scoped and voted upon.


RESULTS
A set of procedures, initial terms and recommendations for further development are the principal deliverables from METRO's first phase, while the ongoing second phase will see the creation and testing of an essential branch of descriptors for assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
Further work in a number of areas will be required and long-term issues of resourcing and sustainability have yet to be substantially addressed to allow for full adoption by the user community.
Haig
Alex
A
Research Department, Lister Postgraduate Institute, NHS Education for Scotland, Edinburgh, UK. alex.haig@nes.scot.nhs.uk
Ellaway
Rachel
R
Dozier
Marshall
M
Liu
Don
D
McKendree
Jean
J
D002965:Classification / Q000379:methods; D019992:Databases as Topic; D004501:Education, Medical; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D012106:Research; D006113:United Kingdom