A needs assessment of education research topics among surgical educators in the United States

Background There are currently no courses that focus specifically on surgical education research. A needs assessment of surgical educators is required to best design these courses. Methods A cross-sectional survey-based study on all faculty members of the Association for Surgical Education was done to determine their education research needs. Results The overall response rate was 15% and the majority of the 78 respondents were physicians (63%) in their mid- to late career stage (65%). Participants thought research topics should be taught at an advanced level in a workshop format. Senior educators were less interested than junior educators in learning to create conceptual frameworks (p = 0.038) and presenting their research at national meetings (p = 0.014). Conclusions Surgical educators desire more training in education research techniques that are taught in a workshop format at a national surgical education meeting. These workshops may lay the groundwork for a nationally recognized certificate in surgical education research.