Increasingly, physician engagement in management, quality and innovation is being recognised as vital, requiring ‘medical leadership’ (ML) competencies. Besides numerous local institutional efforts and despite the high level of autonomy of the medical profession and the education of its members, in some countries, national level activities are focusing on developing ML competencies to guide physicians in more effectively engaging in these non-medical activities. Up to this date, little is known about effective strategies and tactics for developing ML on a national level. This study investigates existing literature on determinants and interventions for national ML development. We performed a scoping review and subsequent systematic literature review of published reviews, using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Ovid MEDLINE and Science Direct in search for eligible papers between 2011 and 2016. Full-text versions of 43 papers were studied, and a snowballing method was deployed. Data extraction included grounded theory coding, and synthesis of data was done iteratively during data clinics. Analysis of the seven included papers resulted in five discrete categories of determinants of and 10 distinct interventions relevant to national development of ML approaches. None of the papers reported on any specific phasing of national ML development. Our data suggest that local and national level activities in ML development should consider multifaceted and multilevel approaches, taking into account resistance to change and redesign of institutionalised logics that accompany changing positions and reconstruction of professional identities of physicians.
3 June 2024 in Advances in Health Sciences Education
Concept-based approaches to curriculum design have been proposed to solve content and curricula overload and promote conceptual learning. Few health professions have adopted this approach and little is known about how to support this educational change. We aimed to understand how nutrition and dietetics educators may navigate proposed education change towards concept-based curricula. We employed an interpretivist approach and in-depth interviews that explored the views of nutrition and dietetic educators towards using a concept-based approach to curriculum. Employing deductive thematic analysis based on the diffusion of innovation theory, data from twenty experienced dietetics educators were analysed. Three main themes were identified; the need for change champions, concerns about change, and the complexity of the education system. Diffusion of innovation theory highlighted that to enact change, the relative advantage and compatibility of the approach with current structures and systems, with evidence from trialling and observing the new approach in action, were needed. Developing education leaders and infiltrating the social system of education through existing communities of practice is critical to enacting educational change.