What is Medical Education?
Medical education is the
process of training individuals to become medical professionals, such as
doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers. It involves the teaching and
learning of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to diagnose, treat,
and prevent illness and promote health.
Goals of
medical education:
Develop strong scientific and
clinical knowledge.
Train students in
patient care, ethics, communication, and
professionalism.
Encourage lifelong
learning and adaptability in a constantly evolving field.
General Search Tips for
Medical Education Resources
Finding high-quality medical education
resources can be overwhelming given the volume of information online. Here are
some general search tips to help efficiently locate reliable materials:
- Start with Trusted Medical
Databases
Use established, peer-reviewed platforms for clinical or
educational content.
See "Suggested Databases to Find Medical Education
Literature" below.
- Use Boolean Operators
To narrow
or expand your search, use:
AND – includes both
terms
curriculum AND
assessment
OR – includes either
term
feedback OR
evaluation
NOT – excludes a
term
burnout NOT residents
Also try
using quotation marks for exact phrases:
"case-based
learning"
- Include Specific Education
Levels
This helps tailor the search to your
audience:
“undergraduate medical
education”
“graduate medical
education”
“continuing
medical education”
- Search Institutional &
Organizational Websites
Look for resources published
by:
AAMC (Association of American
Medical Colleges)
AMEE (Association for
Medical Education in Europe)
LCME
(Liaison Committee on Medical
Education)
NBME (National Board of
Medical Examiners)
Medical school
websites (often share curriculum materials, guidelines, etc.)
Search
tip: Use site: to limit your search in
Google.
competency-based education
site:aamc.org
- Check the Library Resources
You
have free access to:
E-books (e.g.,
Harrison's, Bates’)
Test prep tools
(e.g., AMBOSS)
Databases
(AccessMedicine, ClinicalKey, DynaMedex)
Ask a medical librarian for
help — they’re experts in this.
- Use Reference Lists
Found a great
article or resource? Check its reference list to discover related sources. Many
tools (like PubMed and Google Scholar) also
show:
“Cited by”
articles
“Related
articles”
- Explore Social & Academic
Networks
Twitter/X: Search hashtags
like #MedEd, #FOAMed, #SoMe
Reddit:
Subreddits like r/medicalschool or r/medicine (use with
caution)
ResearchGate: For following
medical education scholars
LinkedIn
& Podcasts: Some educators share practical resources via
personal/professional channels
Bonus
Tools:
Zotero or Mendeley: For
saving and organizing your
references
Google and PubMed Alerts: Set
up alerts for new articles on specific MedEd topics
Suggested Databases to Find Medical Education
Literature
To find high-quality medical education literature, there
are several reliable databases and resources you can use. Here are some of the
most widely recommended.
PubMed
- Website:
https://medicine-mercer.libguides.com/PubMed
- Why use it? It’s the most
widely used database for biomedical literature, including medical education
research.
- Tip: PubMed uses a controlled
vocabulary called MeSH to index articles. Using the correct MeSH terms makes
your search more accurate.
Key MeSH terms for medical
education:
"Education, Medical" –
for general medical
education
"Education, Medical,
Undergraduate" – for medical student
training
"Education, Medical, Graduate"
– for residency-level
education
"Clinical Competence" –
for skill and performance
evaluation
"Teaching Methods" – for
instructional strategies
Example Search: "Education, Medical"[MeSH] AND
"Clinical Competence"[MeSH]
ERIC (Education Resources Information
Center)
- Website: https://medicine-mercer.libguides.com/ERIC
- Why use it? Focused on education,
ERIC includes studies on teaching methods, curriculum design, and learning
theory — including in medical education.
- Tip: Great for pedagogical
frameworks and theory-based studies
Web of Science
- Website: https://medicine-mercer.libguides.com/WOS
- Why use it? High-quality,
peer-reviewed articles across disciplines. Strong citation indexing.
- Tip: Use for systematic review
searches or citation tracking.
Once you run the search, use the filters on
the left-hand panel to narrow your results.
Filter by Research
Areas:
Education & Educational
Research
Health Care Sciences &
Services
General & Internal
Medicine
Psychology
MedEdPORTAL
- Website:
https://www.mededportal.org
- Why use it? A peer-reviewed journal
of teaching and learning resources published by the AAMC.
- Tip: Great for finding curricula,
simulation cases, and assessment tools.
Embase
- Website: https://medicine-mercer.libguides.com/embase
- Why use it? Indexes 8,500+ journals,
including 2,900 journals not in PubMed; includes more European and
international journals, giving a wider global perspective; covers conference
abstracts from 300+ conferences that are not available in PubMed
- Tip: Just like MeSH in PubMed,
Embase uses Emtree to index articles. This improves precision and completeness
in searches.
Key Emtree terms for medical
education:
medical
education/
undergraduate medical
education/
postgraduate
education/
clinical
competence/
teaching method/
Must Reads in Medical Education
The Institute for
Excellence in Education (IEE) has partnered with the Johns Hopkins Bayview
Medical Center, Division of General Internal Medicine on providing a link to
their Must
Reads in Medical Education Each month a multidisciplinary team
systematically scans the published literature to identify 3 - 4 articles for
those who want to keep up with the most important advances and ideas in health
professions education.
Each month, 3-4 noteworthy articles are
identified from the health professions education literature and labeled as
“must reads.” Selection is based on several criteria including
originality and methodological rigor. The process includes a formal search of
the peer-reviewed literature, screening titles and abstracts, full text review,
and an editorial meeting to achieve consensus.
Reviewers include
individuals with expertise in teaching, educational oversight, and research as
well as those who are beginning their careers as educational scholars. The
volume of health professions education articles has become overwhelming. In
curating some of the best new published papers, the reviewers hope to make it
easier for all of us to keep abreast of cutting edge educational scholarship
and practices.
Select
Medical Education eJournals
E-journals play a vital role in Medical
Education by serving as a primary platform for disseminating Medical Education
research and promoting its integration into teaching practices.
 Academic Emergency
Medicine
The official journal of the Society for Academic
Emergency Medicine (SAEM) and publishes information relevant to the practice,
educational advancements, and investigation of emergency medicine.
Information
for Authors
|
 Academic Medicine
The official, peer-reviewed
journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. The journal serves as
an international forum for the exchange of ideas, information, and strategies
to address the major challenges facing the academic medicine community as it
strives to carry out its missions in the public interest. The journal's areas
of focus include research, education, clinical care, community collaboration,
and leadership.
Information for
Authors
|
 Academic
Psychiatry
The international journal of the American
Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry, American Association of
Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, Association for Academic
Psychiatry, and Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in
Psychiatry. Academic Psychiatry publishes original, scholarly work in
psychiatry and the behavioral sciences that focuses on innovative education,
academic leadership, and advocacy.
Information
for Authors
|
 Advances in Health Sciences
Education
A forum for scholarly and state-of-the art
research into all aspects of health sciences education. It will publish
empirical studies as well as discussions of theoretical issues and practical
implications. The primary focus of the Journal is linking theory to practice.
It accepts articles on topics such as admissions, problem-based and
self-directed learning, faculty development, achievement testing, motivation,
curriculum development, curricular comparisons, program evaluation, expertise
development, clinical reasoning, continuing education, community-based
education, and communication skills
Information
for Authors
|
 BMC Medical
Education
An open access journal publishing original
peer-reviewed research articles in relation to the education and training of
healthcare professionals. The journal welcomes studies on students and
professionals across all levels of education; education delivery aspects; and
other education-related topics.
Information
for Authors
|
 Health Education
Journal
A peer reviewed journal publishing high quality
papers on health education as it relates to individuals, populations, groups
and communities vulnerable to and/or at risk of health issues and problems.
Information
for Authors
|
 Journal of Continuing Education in the
Health Professions
The official journal of the Alliance
for Continuing Education in the Health Professions. Publishes articles on
theory, research, practice, evaluation of outcomes and policy that contribute
to the evolution of the health professions and the continuing professional
development of healthcare professionals and healthcare teams.
Information for
Authors
|
 Journal of
Graduate Medical Education (ACGME)
A peer-reviewed,
editorially independent, open access journal published by the Accreditation
Council for Graduate Medical Education. JGME serves as the international venue
to inform, engage, and guide those seeking to enhance the quality of resident
and fellow (postgraduate) physicians’ education through dissemination of
high-quality research to encourage dialogue about important issues in graduate
medical education.
Information
for Authors
|
 Journal of Medical Education and
Curricular Development
A peer-reviewed open access
journal devoted to the publishing of timely information on medical education
practices and development including basic science, clinical, and postgraduate
medical education.
Information for
Authors
|
 Journal of Surgical
Education
Dedicated to advancing the field of surgical
education through original research. The journal publishes research articles in
all surgical disciplines on topics relative to the education of surgical
students, residents, and fellows, as well as practicing surgeons.
Information
for Authors
|
 Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching
and Learning
Founded in 2001, the Journal of the
Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) is published by Indiana
University's Faculty Academy on Excellence in Teaching (FACET). The Journal of
the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (JoSoTL) is a forum for the
dissemination of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in higher education
for the community of teacher-scholars.
Information
for Authors
|
 Medical
Education
A publication of the Association for the Study
of Medical Education, the journal seeks to be the pre-eminent international
journal in the field of education for health care professionals, publishing
articles in the areas of undergraduate education, postgraduate training,
continuing professional development, and interprofessional education.
Information
for Authors
|
 Medical Science
Educator
A publication of the International Association
of Medical Science Educators, this journal presents the latest scholarly
activities, opinions, and resources in medical science education and covers
basic science education, clinical teaching, and incorporation of new
educational technologies. It aims to provide readers with a better
understanding of teaching and learning techniques, and offers comprehensive
information for those teaching in healthcare.
Information
for Authors
|
 Medical
Teacher
Affiliated with AMEE, the International
Association for Health Professions Education, this journal publishes research
on medical education including the developments in teaching approaches and
methods. It aims to address the needs of teachers and administrators involved
in training for the health professions at basic and post-basic levels, and
continuing education.
Information
for Authors
|
 Perspectives on Medical
Education
A journal of the Netherlands Association of
Medical Education, the journal’s mission is to support and enrich
collaborative scholarship between education researchers and clinical educators,
and to advance new knowledge regarding clinical education practices.
Information for
Authors
|
 Teaching and Learning in Medicine
An
international forum for scholarship on teaching and learning in the health
professions, with emphasis on medicine. The journal's international scope
reflects the common challenge faced by all health professions educators:
fostering the development of competent, humane, and continuous learners with
the agency not only to practice in complex, high-stakes, and ever-changing
clinical environments, but also to transform these environments for the
betterment of health care for all.
Information
for Authors
|
 The Clinical
Teacher
The multi-professional medical education journal
for clinicians who teach and people who are involved in education in a health
care setting. An official publication of the Association for the Study of
Medical Education, the journal provides easy access to the latest research,
practice and thinking in clinical education across the health professions.
Information
for Authors
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Finding Medical Education Open Access/Hybrid Journals With
APC Covered Through Mercer University
Go to
Open
Access/Hybrid Journals With APC Covered Through Mercer
University
Select Springer Journal Finder
In the
search box, type: Medical Education and then select "Find
Journals":
To the right of each journal title, look for Funding for open
access publishing to see if funding is available for that
journal.
Select Sage
Journal Recommender
Type in your manuscript title
Select "Education"
as the subject
When you see a journal of interest, go to
this
page to see if the journal is covered by a Mercer agreement.
Select
Elsevier Journal
Finder
Select Search by keywords, aims & scope, journal title,
etc..
In the search box, type: Medical Education or other terms
of interest and then select "Find Journals":
When you see a journal of
interest, go to
this
page to see if the journal is covered by a Mercer
agreement.
Select Medical
Education eBooks
There are several well-established, widely used
books in the field of medical education — whether you're a medical
educator, curriculum developer, researcher, or even a student interested in the
science of teaching and learning in medicine.
Here’s a list of standard
and respected books in medical education, divided by
purpose:
Medical Education
- Understanding
Medical Education: Evidence, Theory, and Practice
Editor: Tim
Swanwick (and others in newer editions)
Why it’s important: A
comprehensive and accessible overview of key concepts, theories, and practical
applications in medical education.
Best for: Medical educators,
curriculum designers, and academic leaders
Often used as a standard
reference in master's programs in health professions education.
Curriculum and Assessment
- Curriculum
Development for Medical Education: A Six-Step Approach
Authors:
David E. Kern, Patricia A. Thomas, Mark T. Hughes, and others
Why
it’s important: This is a gold-standard framework for designing,
implementing, and evaluating medical curricula.
Best for: Course
directors, curriculum committees, academic deans
- Assessment
in Health Professions Education
Authors: Rachel Yudkowsky, Yoon
Soo Park, & Steven M. Downing
Why it's important: This is a
foundational text that covers: validity theory, reliability and psychometrics,
designing and evaluating written and performance-based assessments, and
standard setting and scoring
Best for: Medical educators, assessment
directors, and researchers
Teaching and Clinical Supervision
- Clinical
Teaching Made Easy
Author: Judy McKimm.
Why it's
important: Unlike general education books, this one is tailored to the
realities of teaching in busy clinical environments. It helps educators balance
patient care with teaching responsibilities — a challenge for many
clinicians.
Best for: Clinicians who teach in hospitals or
clinics
- An
introduction to medical teaching : the foundations of curriculum design,
delivery, and assessment
Authors: William B. Jeffries and Kathryn
Huggett
Why it's important: It translates educational theory into
real-world teaching strategies that clinical educators, faculty, and health
professionals can immediately apply — even if they don’t have formal
training in education.
Best for: Anyone involved in teaching medical
or health professions learners.
Educational Research in Medicine
- An
Introduction to Medical Teaching
Authors: William B. Jeffries
& Kathryn Huggett
Why it's important: While not solely
research-focused, this book includes chapters on evaluating teaching,
curriculum, and educational outcomes, useful for applied research.
Best
for: Clinician-educators starting in scholarly teaching
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