title: Challenges in systematic reviews of educational intervention studies.
abstract: Educators have recognized the need to apply evidence-based approaches to medical training. To do so, medical educators must have access to reliable evidence on the impact of educational interventions. This paper describes 5 methodologic challenges to performing systematic reviews of educational interventions for health care professionals: finding reports of medical education interventions, assessing quality of study designs, assessing the scope of interventions, assessing the evaluation of interventions, and synthesizing the results of educational interventions. We offer suggestions for addressing these challenges and make recommendations for reporting, reviewing, and appraising interventions in medical education.
authors.affiliation: Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA. reed.darcy@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Darcy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.forename: Eboni G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Price
authors.forename: Donna M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Windish
authors.forename: Scott M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Wright
authors.forename: Aysegul
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gozu
authors.forename: Edbert B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Hsu
authors.forename: Mary Catherine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Beach
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kern
authors.forename: Eric B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Bass
mesh_terms: D004501:Education, Medical / Q000592:standards*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards; D012196:Review Literature as Topic