Building capacity in medical education research in Australia

Medical education research is a relatively new but growing discipline. There is an overall perception of lack of confidence in the quality of the research, which is not entirely justified. The scientific quality of any research is defined by the appropriate application of method to a particular problem. There is a need for programmatic research focused on developing medical education policy. University medical education units need to be research-focused. Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand and the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medical Education (ANZAME: the Association for Health Professional Education) can provide leadership. Funding bodies need to develop their relationship with medical education research.