BMJ  2005;331:977-978 (29 October), doi:10.1136/bmj.331.7523.977

Editorial

The need for outcome measures in medical education

Complex educational interventions demand complex and appropriate evaluations

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

How can we ever be sure that educational approaches such as problem based learning are better than traditional ones? Change merely for the sake of change is futile. Changes in medical education should lead to better outcomes, but what is the best way to show cause and effect?

For simple research questions straightforward methods suffice, but more complex questions require more complicated study designs. A question such as "Is drug A more effective than a placebo?" is highly relevant, and the methods needed to answer it may be relatively straightforward. However, the question "Why does drug A lead to a better outcome than a placebo?" is more complicated, and "Does using drug A lead to better health for the population?" even more so. Answering more complicated questions often requires a programme of research rather than a single study.

Some authors would say that a randomised controlled trial is the . . . [Full text of this article]

Lambert Schuwirth, associate professor

Department of Educational Development and Research, Maastricht University, Netherlands (l.schuwirth@educ.unimaas.nl)

Peter Cantillon, senior lecturer

Department of General Practice, National University of Ireland, Galway, Republic of Ireland


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