Development of a Surgical Educational Research Program—Fundamental Principles and Challenges

Background Surgical educational research is the scientific investigation of any aspect of surgical learning, teaching, training, and assessment. The research into development and validation of educational tools is vital to optimize patient care. This can be accomplished by establishing high quality educational research programs within academic surgical departments. This article aims to identify the components involved in educational research and describes the challenges as well as solutions to establishing a high quality surgical educational research program. Methods A variety of sources including journal articles, books, and online literature were reviewed in order to determine the pathways involved in conducting educational research and establishing a research program. Results It is vital to ensure that educational research is acceptable, innovative, robust in design, funded correctly, and disseminated successfully. Challenges faced by the current surgical research programs include structural organization, academic support, credibility, time, funding, relevance, and growth. The solutions to these challenges have been discussed. Conclusions To ensure research in surgical education is of high quality and yields credible results, strong leadership in the organization of an educational research program is necessary.