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Context: Transitions of patient care responsibility occur frequently between physicians. Resultant discontinuities make it difficult for physicians to observe clinical outcomes. Little is known about what physicians do to overcome the practical challenges to learning these discontinuities create. This study explored physicians’ activities in practice as they sought follow‐up information about patients. Methods: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, semi‐structured interviews with 18 internal medicine hospitalist and resident physicians at a single tertiary care academic medical center explored participants’ strategies when deliberately conducting follow‐up after they transitioned responsibility for patients to other physicians. Following open coding, the authors used activity theory (AT) to explore interactions among the social, cultural and material influences related to follow‐up. Results: The authors identified three themes related to follow‐up: (i) keeping lists to track patients, (ii) learning to create tracking systems and (iii) conducting follow‐up. Analysis of participants' follow‐up processes as an activity system highlighted key tensions in the system and participants’ work adaptations. Tension within functionality of electronic health records for keeping lists (tools) to find information about patients’ outcomes (object) resulted in using paper lists as workarounds. Tension between paper lists (tools) and protecting patients’ health information (rules) led to rule‐breaking or abandoning activities of locating information. Finding time to conduct desired follow‐up produced tension between this and other activity systems. Conclusion: In clinical environments characterised by discontinuity, lists of patients served as tools for guiding patient care follow‐up. The authors offer four recommendations to address the tensions identified through AT: (i) optimise electronic health record tracking systems to eliminate the need for paper lists; (ii) support physicians’ skill development in developing and maintaining tracking systems for follow‐up; (iii) dedicate time in physicians’ work schedules for conducting follow‐up; and (iv) engage physicians and patients in determining guidelines for longitudinal tracking that optimise physicians’ learning and respect patients’ privacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Transformative learning (TL) has been described as learning that challenges established perspectives, leading to new ways of being in the world. As a learning theory it has resonated with educators globally, including those in the health professions. Described as a complex metatheory, TL has evolved over time, eliciting divergent interpretations of the construct. This scoping review provides a comprehensive synthesis of how TL is currently represented in the health professions education literature, including how it influences curricular activities, to inform its future application in the field. Methods: Arksey and O'Malley's six‐step framework was adopted to review the period from 2006 to May 2018. A total of 10 bibliographic databases were searched, generating 1532 potential studies. After several rounds of review, first of abstracts and then of full texts, 99 studies were mapped by two independent reviewers onto the internally developed data extraction sheet. Descriptive information about included studies was aggregated. Discursive data were subjected to content analysis. Results: A mix of conceptual and empirical research papers, which used a range of qualitative methodologies, were included. Studies from the USA, the UK and Australia were most prevalent. Insights relating to how opportunities for TL were created, how it manifests and influences behaviour, as well as how it is experienced, demonstrated much congruency. Conceptions of TL were seen to be clustered around the work of key theorists. Conclusions: The training of health professionals often takes place in unfamiliar settings where students are encouraged to be active participants in providing care. This increases the opportunity for exposure to learning experiences that are potentially transformative, allowing for a pedagogy of uncertainty that acknowledges the complexity of the world we live in and questions what we believe we know about it. TL provides educators in the health professions with a theoretical lens through which they can view such student learning. This scoping review enhances understanding of transformative learning by exploring ways in which it has been represented in the health professions education literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context Mixed methods research involves the collection, analysis and integration of both qualitative and quantitative data in a single study. The benefits of a mixed methods approach are particularly evident when studying new questions or complex initiatives and interactions, which is often the case in medical education research. Basic guidelines for when to use mixed methods research and how to design a mixed methods study in medical education research are not readily available. Methods The purpose of this paper is to remedy that situation by providing an overview of mixed methods research, research design models relevant for medical education research, examples of each research design model in medical education research, and basic guidelines for medical education researchers interested in mixed methods research. Conclusions Mixed methods may prove superior in increasing the integrity and applicability of findings when studying new or complex initiatives and interactions in medical education research. They deserve an increased presence and recognition in medical education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]