Outcome assessment of medical education fellowships in emergency medicine

Medical education fellowships in emergency medicine (EM) provide training in teaching, assessment, educational program administration, and scholarship. The longitudinal impact of this training is unknown. Our objective was to characterize the career outcomes of medical education fellowship graduates.

We solicited curriculum vitae (CV) from graduates of U.S. EM education fellowships by email. We abstracted data from CVs with a standard instrument that included program characteristics, employment history, leadership positions, awards, and scholarly productivity. We calculated and reported descriptive statistics.

A total of 71 of 91 (78%) graduates participated. Thirty-three completed a 1-year fellowship and 38 completed a 2-year fellowship. Nineteen (27%) completed an advanced degree during fellowship. Median (range) graduation year was 2016 (1997-2020). The majority, 63 of 71 (89%), work in an academic setting. Graduates held leadership positions in continuing medical education, graduate medical education, and undergraduate medical education. Forty-eight (68%) served on national medical education committees. The mean ± SD number of national medical education awards was 1.27 ± 2.03. The mean ± SD number of national medical education presentations was 7.63 ± 10.83. Graduates authored a mean ± SD of 3.63 ± 5.81 book chapters and a mean ± SD of 4.99 ± 6.17 peer-reviewed medical education research publications. Ten (14%) served on journal editorial boards, 34 (48%) were journal reviewers, and 31 (44%) had received a medical education grant.

EM medical education fellowship graduates are academically productive and hold education leadership positions.