The research from the Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME) Unit is allocated to the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aalborg University. The leader of the unit, Susanne B. Nøhr, is Associate Professor in medical education at Aalborg University and at the Centre for Health Sciences Education, Aarhus University; and is also responsible for coordination of PGME at Aalborg University Hospital.

 The research addresses postgraduate workplace learning and focuses on the links between the perspective of the individual learner, the teams (faculty) and the hospital organisation. Presently, there is also, as part of PhD studies, an intensive focus on professional identity formation and on the transition from being a medical student to working as a newly graduated doctor.

 The research methods applied are explorative (field studies and interviews) and researcher interactive (for example Cultural-Historical Activity theory (CHAT) and Change Laboratory (ref. 1-2)) and aim at transformative learning and change.

 The unit and the hospital run a yearly process called 3-h-meetings (ref. 3) where the junior doctors are asked to give their perspectives on how to strengthen the PGME, sometimes within a specifically defined area. Around 75% of the ideas (approx.175 pr. year) are implemented at the hospital. The Postgraduate Medical Education Unit publishes the results in a “3-h-report” (in Danish) and in medical education papers and at conferences.

Publications and conferences:

https://vbn.aau.dk/da/organisations/postgraduat-uddannelse/publications/

https://vbn.aau.dk/da/persons/135337

Besides research, the unit focuses on faculty development and organises many courses, workshops and network meetings that address the learning environment and specific educational issues.

References:

1. Skipper M, Musaeus P, Nøhr SB. The Paediatric Change Laboratory: Optimising postgraduate learning in the outpatient clinic. BMC Medical Education, February 2015. http://bmcmededuc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12909-016-0563-y
2. Skipper M, Nøhr SB, Engeström Y. The Change Laboratory in medical education – two examples of tackling contradictory challenges. Accepted for publication in Medical Education 2020.
3. Ipsen M, Nøhr SB. The three-hour meeting: a sociaio-cultural approch to engage junioe doctors in education. Med Teach. 2009, 31(10);933-7.