Funding medical education research: opportunities and issues

Medical education research is underfunded. Little research focuses on basic issues of learning and teaching in medicine, and few educational innovations are tested across institutions to insure their generalizability. Despite repeated calls for the development of research organizations that would deal with substantial issues in medical education, funding remains a miniscule portion of the total budget for medical education. The author discusses how medical education research is supported in the present economic environment. The majority of published research is accomplished during the course of the researcher's employment. Many universities support pilot studies that lead to larger grants. Faculty development programs and career or academic awards support some research. Small to moderate amounts of funding are available through a variety of sources including medical specialty associations and private foundations. The author lists a variety of resources and strategies for finding foundations to fund research. Funding for larger research projects, particularly those that require more than a few years to accomplish or that involve multiple institutions, is more difficult to obtain. Federal training grants provide the laboratory for innovation and education research, but include inadequate funds to accomplish in-depth evaluation or research. The lack of emphasis on theory building and failure to prove the usefulness of innovations across schools cannot be overcome with current levels of funding. Medical educators must be advocates for the research support needed to move medical education research from a field with limited influence on practice to one that is able to connect sound insights and ideas with actual practices in education and improved patient health.