Expansion of distributed medical education and scholarship in psychiatry: Protocol for an environmental scan (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Distributed medical education (DME) has numerous benefits for the medical profession, including expanded training capacity, enriched clinical experiences for learners, and improved recruitment of physicians to rural areas. The success of DME relies on a community of engaged faculty at distributed sites. Yet supporting, recognizing, and fully engaging with distributed faculty members can be challenging. OBJECTIVE This environmental scan aims to understand current practices and identify needs and barriers that must be addressed to facilitate the integration of psychiatrists from Dalhousie Faculty of Medicine’s distributed education sites in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into the Department of Psychiatry. METHODS The study will use a mixed-methods approach, collecting quantitative data (demographics, participants' experience and interest in undergraduate, postgraduate, continuing medical education, research and scholarly activities, quality improvement, and knowledge translation) through an anonymous online survey and qualitative data (regarding topics in the quantitative survey) from focus group discussions and interviews. RESULTS Results are expected within six months of data collection and will inform policy options for expanding training opportunities and scholarly work at DME sites regionally. CONCLUSIONS This research protocol may offer a valuable methodology for other psychiatry and medical departments wishing to expand their departments and extend their education programs beyond tertiary care centres. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable. This is not a clinical trial.