Pathology and solutions for activities of medical education development offices

Abstract

Background and aimEducation development offices are one of the main branches of medical education centers for directing the educational performance of medical sciences universities to achieve educational goals. Due to their close presence and communication with educational environments, these offices are highly important. To effectively guide and empower these offices, it is necessary to analyze their current situation, identify the challenges, and provide solutions to address them. This study was conducted to identify the challenges and provide solutions for the activities of medical education development offices.MethodsThis qualitative study was conducted in two stages, including 29 semi-structured interviews and a focus group discussion with experts in 2022 at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. The sampling method was purposive. The content analysis of data was performed based on conventional qualitative content analysis.ResultsData analysis resulted in the emergence of two main categories including challenges facing the activities of medical education development offices and solutions for improving the activities of these offices, and comprising some categories containing organizational structure factors, cognitive factors, communication factors, and motivational factors.ConclusionEducation development offices are one of medical universities’ main policymaking and quality control institutions. Efforts are being made to establish EDOs structures within the university. The formation of a clear and performance-based reward system for faculty members who are the managers of the EDOs is proposed. Improving interactions between EDOs and other parts of the university to coordinate activities, and exchange of experiences are highlighted.