Advancing Research in Health Professions Education Through an Innovative Accelerator Panel

Introduction: Research and scholarship are critical to advance the effective design, implementation, and evaluation of health professions education activities as well as to study outcomes and disseminate observations to the community. Yet, many educators are neither involved in nor equipped to conduct quality education research. This gap underscores the continuing education need to guide and train health professions educators to rigorously investigate, prepare, and report their educational research. Methods: A novel session called the Education Research Accelerator was designed to increase knowledge about education research methods and resources and to improve participants' competence and performance in implementing studies. A panel helped prospective researchers develop ideas or advance projects toward completion by offering real-time feedback to pitched ideas; a live audience of learners participated virtually, expanding the impact of the session, facilitating connections, and potentially inspiring other research ideas. The outcomes of the Education Research Accelerator were evaluated immediately after the session and 18 months later. Results: The Education Research Accelerator conferred favorable outcomes for participants' competence in designing education research studies and awareness of using available resources. Long-term follow-up confirmed actual benefits to use effective methodology to advance education research projects and to use resources and connections established in the Education Research Accelerator. Conclusions: Although further study is needed, the Education Research Accelerator model is a novel intervention to enhance learning, forge needed connections, and increase the sophistication of conducting education research. We propose that the model can be replicated and applied in other settings.