Using a boundary crossing lens to understand basic science educator and clinical educator collaboration in...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Instructional Design
• Interdisciplinary Collaboration

Background:

• Collaborations between basic science educators (BE) and clinical educators (CE) are vital for developing integrated medical education materials.
• Limited research exists on the experiences and processes of educators in interdisciplinary teams.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the processes BE and CE use to co-create integrated learning materials through boundary crossing.
• To understand the impact of interdisciplinary teamwork on educators.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative content analysis of program evaluation data.
• Study involved 27 BE and CE across 12 multi-institutional instructional design teams.

Main Results:

• BE and CE utilized boundary crossing mechanisms, respecting diverse expertise and optimizing shared work processes.
• Educators gained confidence in linking clinical concepts with causal explanations.
• Participants showed increased willingness to support similar collaborations.

Conclusions:

• Boundary crossing mechanisms facilitate productive collaboration between BE and CE in instructional design.
• These successful practices can inform and be applied to future interdisciplinary educational efforts.