Physicians as Clinical Scholars (PACS)
On-Demand Module Series

Planning Committee/Contributing Authors

  • Lu Federico, PhD.
  • Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Naomi Bishop, MLIS, AHIP.
  • Jonathan Snyder, MBA.

Learning Objectives

  1. Introduce physician faculty to important terms, concepts and best practices in transforming PSQI; administrative leadership in education; curriculum development; teaching; mentoring; and diversity, equity and inclusion experiences into medical research and scholarship for presentation and peer review publication.
  2. Understand the various study types common in medical education research and scholarship to discern which methods are best for inquiry.
  3. Understand the various university library-based resources available to more effectively engage in the research and scholarship process.

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Continuing Medical Education (CME)

30 minutes and will provide .5 CME credits upon completion for a total of six CME credits for the series.

PACS Series Modules

Module 1 – Overview of Medical Education Scholarship and Research for Clinical Educators (30 mins.)

Reasons to Engage for Community/Patient Impact and Professional Growth
  • Author: Lu Federico, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Describe the multiple reasons for turning day-to-day clinical teaching, PSQI, and administrative work into scholarly projects as noted by the academic medicine community.
    2. Describe the rationale for connecting scholarship to patient care outcomes and participants’ development as mentors for the medical education pipeline learners.

Module 2 – QI vs Research (15 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Understand how measurement for improvement differs from measurement for research.

Module 3 – Steps in the Research Process (10 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Summarize the steps in the research process — from choosing a research topic to preparing a research design.
    2. Identify the issues that are characteristic in selecting a research problem, selecting an appropriate research design and implementing a research project.

Module 4 – Study Types and Measures of Association (25 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Understand the basic concepts of different types of research studies.
    2. Describe the measures of association to evaluate case control studies, cohort studies and randomized control trials.

Module 5 – Introduction to Research Methods and Data Management (45 mins.)

  • Author: Jonathan Snyder, MBA.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Provide faculty with an overview of quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research and how they are applied to program evaluation.
    2. Introduce faculty to the software and data storage tools and best practices they will be utilizing for their inquiry.

Module 6 – Conducting and Organizing a Literature Search (15 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Understand how to conduct a literature search for a research study:
      1. The steps in the overall process.
      2. The types of databases often searched.
      3. The criteria for evaluating the quality of a study.
      4. The ways of organizing the material found.
    2. Conduct a literature review and formulate a research question, while considering the research design implications of your question.

Module 7 – Developing a Research Question (15 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Distinguish between a purpose statement, a research question or hypothesis, and a research objective.
    2. Create focused research questions or statements.

Module 8 – Research Writing and Reporting Guidelines (25 mins.)

  • Author: Melisa Celaya, PhD.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Describe the importance of results, conclusions and recommendations in a research study.
    2. Summarize the conventions with reporting guidelines for scholarly writing depending on the type of study results being described.

Module 9 – U of A Library Introduction: Databases, Point of care tools, journals and eBooks (20 mins.)

  • Author: Naomi Bishop, MLIS, AHIP.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Understand how to access U of A Library tools and databases.
    2. Access a full text article or ebook chapter.

Module 10 – ORCID and SciENcv: Creating Profiles for Research (20 mins.)

  • Author: Naomi Bishop, MLIS, AHIP.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Register for an ORCID account with U of A email.
    2. Build and manage a research profile.
    3. Use ORCID for publishing, grants and email signature.

Module 11 – Publishing for Impact: Evaluating Journals and Authorship and Rights (25 mins.)

  • Author: Naomi Bishop, MLIS, AHIP.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Understand copyright and why it is important to scholarly publishing.
    2. Recognize the key parts of a journal publishing agreement.
    3. Determine whether a journal is a good fit for your research.

Module 12 – Citation Managers: An Introduction to Zotero and Mendeley (25 mins.)

  • Author: Naomi Bishop, MLIS, AHIP.
  • Learning Objectives:
    1. Create a Zotero/Mendeley account and download citation manager and plug-ins.
    2. Import and organize citation information from literature databases.
    3. Format citations for your papers and bibliographies using write and cite.

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson designates this online enduring material for a maximum of six AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.