Editorial

Research on medical education, essential for the scientific and teaching development of Basic Biomedical Sciences residents

0000-0001-8843-6594Arturo Puga García^{1  *}  , 0000-0003-1603-1664Gloria María Puga Madiedo² 

¹Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.

²Policlínico n.o 2, Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus, Cuba.

The Basic Biomedical Sciences Department at the Sancti Spíritus University of Medical Sciences, has currently 23 residents distributed in its five specialties; together with 19 specialists graduated in the last five years, this represents a strength to face the teaching-learning process in this house of higher education.

Although there has been an increase in the teaching staff, this has not been lapsed in the scientific and teaching development at the Basic Biomedical Sciences Department of the University of Medical Sciences since, it is possibly clear not to has conducted the accomplishment work of specialist in medical education issues, in spite of being at present a multifactorial problem which could be influencing on it.

It is considered the same way Basic Sciences specialists have been linked to scientific projects in the clinical area in response to health problems in the territory, such as that developed at the Sancti Spíritus University of Medical Sciences referred to growth and development of the newborn ¹ in the nineties, research should be also approved to respond to problems linked to the teaching-learning process of the health professional.

Research on medical education encompasses the process of training human resources on behalf of public health; for this reason, it is not the same as "pedagogical researches", which have a less comprehensive study object, although there is a complementation between both.

There are research projects in which a doctoral research line has provided thematic opportunities with specific tasks to Basic Sciences residents and those from other medical specialties who are beginning their specialist training, with tutoring from the doctoral research teams ².

Some studies in this field ^3,4 report that Basic Sciences residents have learning styles with a direct implication to the teaching-learning process of future medical professionals, having different characteristics at different periods of the residency.

Today, the university does not have scientific research laboratories working for Basic Sciences residents to conduct their specialist completion work. There are restrictions of material and human resources in hospitals and other health centers in the province to develop scientific research on Basic Biomedical Sciences linked to health care centers; in addition, there are no macro research projects where the scientific knowledge of clinical specialties is interrelated with those of the basic cycle, in order to respond to people´s health problems.

Projects assumed outside the department respond to a highlighted line corresponding to a care area where the tutor is responsible for that, using the resident to fulfill one of its objectives. Participating in medical education research projects, approved by the Scientific Council of the Faculty, would allow Basic Sciences residents to investigate core problems in the teaching-learning process of the medical career.

Human resources training offers a great feasibility to conduct any research so results can be published in scientific journals indexed in international databases, thus allow to increase the number of scientific publications and expand the scientometric indexes of educational institutions and professors.

The exit profile of the Basic Sciences specialists is to work at the medical university, as a professor in charge of developing the teaching-learning process, instruction and education, to achieve the training and development of the future health professional in the social context and the current trends of higher education in Medical Sciences.

What didactic, pedagogical, research and scientific instruments will this specialist use to achieve these purposes, if training has not been developed in the field of medical education?

The scientific development of the Basic Biomedical Sciences resident is fragmented, taking into account that before granting the specialty, the physician has spent an average of five to ten years in a Family Doctor House or in any administrative responsibilities, with limitations in the acquisition of pedagogical skills to perform as a teacher and to teach the different organizational forms of the teaching work.

After granting the specialty, the physician spends four years developing a research project (clinical) away from the didactic-pedagogical context where develops as a professor at the Medical Sciences University.

After finishing residency and graduating as a specialist the resident will remain at the university for 15 to 20 years as a professor (taking into account the average age at the beginning of the residency), facing the teaching-learning process with the didactic and pedagogical basics of current university.

In this situation, a dialectical contradiction emerges from the analysis. Basic Sciences specialists, without having ventured into medical education research during their training, are the best suited to conduct research in this important field of science. However, their specialty completion work should be in the area of medical diagnosis and treatment. Although in the program documents of basic specialties, elaborated more than 20 years ago, it is stated that the specialist should have an assistance work, it is considered that this is a rather idealistic approach nowadays. The majority of these specialists devote most of their time to teaching and research, predominantly in the area of medical education.

Research projects on medical education should be supported, regardless whether to conduct research where Basic Science residents can take part in scientific problems which solution contributes to the wellbeing and a better life quality for the patient and community. This scientific set-up should not be absolute, because if the existence of approved projects that respond to scientific problems present in the training process of the health professional in the contemporary medical university, the Basic Sciences resident could participate in their implementation.

Addressing issues on medical education by Basic Biomedical Sciences residents would contribute to the staggered scientific development of the professional: thesis, master's degree, doctorate and long-term research projects.

Results on medical education research have a direct impact on the improvement of the education quality in the institution where it is performed. In contrast to research on medical care, where the process from scientific result to practical application requires time and other work to confirm results. Studies on medical education are much more pertinent to the institution where they are conducted since they are more focused on solving practical problems of the entity's teaching process.

In the last five years, 19 research projects have been developed at the Sancti Spíritus University of Medical Sciences as a work of completion of Basic Sciences specialty linked to clinical topics; none of them has had a feasible impact of development or continuity in the department, among other causes due to the scarcity of material resources.

The possibility that professors with the scientific category of doctors of science and research projects related to medical education can contribute to the research and teaching training of these residents is unexploited.

This field of science is well recognized by the international scientific community with its key word "medical education", its particular research methods and a large number of scientific journals, some with a high impact factor, exclusively dedicated to publishing papers on medical education. Therefore, if the specialist thesis is an exercise for the resident to learn and manage the scientific method, this area is as valid as any other.

There should be an objective and feasible analysis for the development of specialty completion research and not avoid the Basic Sciences resident from conducting research on medical education problems, this solution will result in a better teaching quality also a more competent training for the professional performance of the future graduate from the medical university. Bernaza, Ph.D. and academic of the Postgraduate Direction at the Havana University of Medical Sciences, in Pedagogy 2022 congress said: "The pedagogical issue must be addressed in postgraduate education, in order to achieve a competent professional. To understand within postgraduate, that didactics is the par excellence teaching discipline".

Specialists and residents who were able to develop research projects on issues related to medical education, show satisfaction for have been linked to problems of their work as university professors; which have been able to give them continuity, with valuable results for the performance and interest of students.

On the contrary, clinical linkage projects, developed as a specialty completion work, were unable to continue their research, those, according to specialists, neither provide them with research skills to face teaching problems in their professional work, nor were they linked to their performance as university professor.

There is no any scientific basis to avoid thesis on medical education; therefore, it should be considered and treated as any other research area. There should be a real control that enables the possibility of conducting research projects in these topics, regardless the fact that others can be done through basic clinical linkage, where Basic Sciences residents can mediate to provide answers to scientific problems.

It is suitable, feasible and convenient to do research on medical education by residents of the department of Basic Biomedical Sciences, useful from the practical point of view and necessary to endeavor into several problems faced by this field of knowledge in the XXI century.

REFERENCIAS BIBLIOGRÁFICAS

1.  García Afonso MC, Puga García A, González Brizuela JA, Benítez Guzmán I, Madiedo Albolatrach M. Factores de riesgos en el bajo peso al nacer. Municipio Sancti Spíritus. 2002-2003. Gac méd espirit [Internet]. 2006 [citado 9 Jun 2022];8(1). Disponible en: Disponible en: http://www.revgmespirituana.sld.cu/index.php/gme/article/view/1314 1.

2.  Sarasa Muñoz NL, Cañizares Luna O, Álvarez-Guerra González E, Orozco Muñoz C, Artiles Santana A. Vinculación de una línea de investigación doctoral a la especialización médica. Edumecentro [Internet]. 2022 [citado 5 Mayo 2022];14. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://www.revedumecentro.sld.cu/index.php/edumc/article/view/e2174/pdf 2.

3.  García Céspedes ME, Fuentes González HC, Zaldívar Álvarez E, Bell Castillo J. Aportes de las investigaciones pedagógicas a la educación médica cubana. Medisan [Internet]. 2019 [citado 5 Mayo 2022];23(6):1045-1057. Disponible en: Disponible en: http://www.medisan.sld.cu/index.php/san/article/view/2914/pdf 3.

4.  Díaz Rojas PA, Leyva Sánchez EK, Carrasco Feria MÁ. El sistema de formación escalonada en Educación Médica en la Universidad de Ciencias Médicas de Holguín. Educ med super [Internet]. 2019 [citado 5 Mayo 2022];33(1). Disponible en: Disponible en: http://www.ems.sld.cu/index.php/ems/article/view/1518/788 4.

Received: May 25, 2022; Accepted: June 10, 2022

^*Autor para la correspondencia. Correo electrónico: [e-mail]

No existe conflicto de interés en esta investigación.