Authors are invited to submit abstracts for consideration as part of the 2025 Research, Innovation and Scholarship in Education (RISE) event.  RISE will be held virtually. We welcome submissions for oral presentations and electronic posters on any topic related to Medical Education. This can be a project idea, a work in progress, innovation and scholarship, or reporting on medical education research completed at the University of Saskatchewan.

Objectives:

You will get the opportunity to showcase medical/health education projects and findings to fellow residents, faculty and guests and network with others who share your interest in health education at the University of Saskatchewan. We are looking forward to finding areas of common interest, finding opportunities for liaising with others, creating research and scholarship networks, and sharing.

Presentation Format:

• Oral Presentation – Will provide an opportunity to present innovative projects or research across the medical education continuum.  Oral presentations will be ~10 minutes in length and ~5 minutes for Q&A. The exact duration will depend on the number of accepted abstracts.
• Electronic Poster – Will offer a ~5 minute presentation including Q&A. The exact duration will depend on the number of accepted abstracts. 

Selection Criteria: 

All abstracts will be reviewed by the RISE Committee and selected based on:

• Consistency with the overall event theme
• Relevance and potential applicability
• Clarity and quality of the abstract

Registration: 

All presenters are required to register for the event and are encouraged to attend for the full event.  There is no cost to attend RISE.  

Award:

One award, the Faculty Development RISE (Research, Innovation, and Scholarship in Education) Award, will be presented to the abstract that scores the highest. The RISE Committee will use an official rubric to score the abstracts and determine the winner. The award includes a $500 contribution towards registration for an educational conference of the winner’s choice.

Important Dates:

• Monday, February 3, 2025: Call for abstracts open
• Monday, March 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST: Call for abstracts close
• Late April: Notice of acceptance to presenters
• Friday, June 13, 2025: RISE

Questions:

For any questions regarding the abstract submission process, please contact medicinefaculty.development@usask.ca

Review Process:

Submissions will be reviewed by the RISE planning committee.  Abstracts will be scored using the RISE abstract rubric. 

Award:

One award, the Faculty Development RISE (Research, Innovation, and Scholarship in Education) Award, will be presented to the abstract that scores the highest. The award includes a $500 contribution towards registration for an educational conference of the winner’s choice.

Notice of Acceptance:

• Late-April: Official notification of acceptance will be sent abstract presenter and author(s).
• Early-May: Specific details will be provided to the presenter about the session date, time, presentation format, etc.

Publication:

Accepted abstracts will be published in the RISE Abstract Booklet, which will be posted on the College of Medicine Faculty Development website.

Required Information for Submission:

1. Abstract Title: The full title of your submission. This will be used for printing in the final program.
2. Abstract Text: MUST include purpose, methods/approach, results/impact, and conclusion. Maximum of 1800 characters.  This will be used for printing in the final program. Abstracts not submitted in this format will be rejected.
3. Authors: You MUST include the names of ALL authors (including yourself if you are an author) in the order in which you wish them to appear in the printed text. Names omitted here will NOT be printed in the final program.
4. Presenter:  ONE person must be identified as the presenter. If the abstract is accepted, all communication beyond notification of acceptance/non-acceptance will be with the identified presenter.
5. Permission to Publish: Permission to publish your submission on electronic media and in hardcopy if it is accepted for presentation.
6. Author Approval: Confirmation that your submission has been approved by all authors.
7. Area of Focus: Health Science/Basic Education, Postgraduate Education, Continuous Professional Development/ Faculty Development, Interprofessional Education, Undergraduate Education.
8. Preferred Presentation Format: Indicate your preferred presentation format (oral or e-poster).  There is a possibility you may be asked to present in a format other than your preference.

Submission Link: All abstracts must be submitted via the provided submission link.

Questions: 

For any questions regarding the abstract submission process, please contact medicinefaculty.development@usask.ca

Funding Sources for Medical Education Research
(PDF)

AAMC-Regional Groups on Educational Affairs (GEA) Annotated Bibliography of Journals for Educational Scholarship
(PDF)

Jane (Journal/Author Name Estimator)
JANE is a free online bibliographic journal selection tool that helps authors determine the most appropriate in-scope journal for their manuscripts.

creo™
creo™ is an online learning tool that delivers research education in a straightforward and easy-to-digest way, guiding learners through the step-by-step process of developing a research project. More information can be found in the creo Information Booklet.
(PDF)

Medical Education Research Support
Handout by Mark Milne
(DOC) 

Faculty Development Writing Resources
(DOC)

Office of the Vice Dean Research Handout
This handout contains grant development information, departmental contact lists, funding opportunities, resources for clinical researchers, and information on understanding overhead.
(PDF)

Thinking about your Thinking
Writing a process note – a “teaching progress note”
(PDF)

USask Library Resources & Services for College of Medicine Faculty
(DOC)

Recommended Books on Teaching & Learning, Medical Education, and Family Medicine Education
Prepared by Wayne Weston
(DOC)

USask Teaching and Learning
To see the full list of professional development opportunities, visit their Workshops and courses webpage.

USask Faculty Development Events
Visit the events section on our website for a full list of upcoming offerings.

Medical Education Conferences
Visit our ‘MedEd Conference Listings’ webpage to view a list of various upcoming medical education conferences worldwide.

USask Faculty Development Canvas Programming
View our asynchronous canvas programming on topics such as: new faculty orientation, clinical teaching skills, professionalism, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), and topics specific to Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) and Postgraduate Medical Education (PGME).

Blanchard, R. D., DeMeo, S., & Nagler, A. (2016). Primer for Submitting Health Professions Education Research to the IRB. Academic Medicine, 91(12), e1-e1.
doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000001436. [Article link (NSID & password required)].

Wang, F. Y., Stankiewicz, C. A., Bennett, N. L., & Myers, J. S. (2019). Hit the Ground Running: Engaging Early-Career Medical Educators in Scholarly Activity. Academic Medicine, 94(11), 1837-1837.
doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002761. [Article link (NSID & password required)].

Fischer, K., Kesselheim, J. C. (2020). 23 Questions to Guide the Writing of a Quantitative Medical Education Research Proposal. Academic Medicine.
doi: 10.1097/ACM.0000000000003660. [Article link (NSID & password required)].

Date: June 14, 2024
Location: In-person - Regina, SK

Faculty Development was pleased to present its 7th annual Research, Innovation, and Scholarship in Education (RISE) event held on June 14, 2024, in Regina, SK. This year marked a significant milestone as we hosted our first in-person conference since 2019.

This year’s event saw a great turnout with over 60 attendees. Twenty-seven attendees made the trip from Saskatoon to Regina via bus, with breakfast provided and a game of ‘Bingo on the bus.’

We were honored to have Regina Mayor Sandra Masters, MLA Alana Ross, and Dr. Helen Chang welcome everyone. A keynote plenary was delivered by Dr. Rob Woods, titled “Medical Education: The Past, Present, and Future.”

The program included 13 oral presentations and 6 poster presentations, demonstrating exceptional quality throughout. Special recognition goes to Romaisa Ismaeel, Sarah-Marie Durr, and Barada Mohanty for presenting the top 3 abstracts.

Congratulations to Barada Mohanty for winning the RISE 2024 award for the top abstract: “Impact of individual factors on situational judgement tests: implications for admissions to postgraduate medical education.” Dr. Andries Muller, Dr. Helen Chang, and Dr. Rob Woods were recognized as the 2024 Faculty Development award recipients.

Our gratitude goes out to all those involved in organizing this event—from both the Saskatoon planning committee and the Regina planning sub-committee—to abstract reviewers and Continuing Medical Education. Thank you also to our session facilitators, CoM staff, faculty, and IT, who were instrumental in making the day run smoothly.

A special thank you is due to everyone who attended or presented at this year’s event; your participation made RISE an enriching experience for all involved.

We hope to see you at RISE 2025!

Overall Event Objectives

By the end of this event, participants will be able to: 

• Describe medical education research and scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan
• Network with others who share interest in medical education and scholarship
• Create collaborations / communities of practice that will support medical education research and scholarship in the CoM

Plenary: "Medical Education: The Past, Present, and Future”

At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:

• Reflect on the history of medical education assessment and our failure to fail culture…
• Apply strategies to optimally use our current methods of assessment
• Debate the future directions of assessment in medical education

Click to watch the recorded presentation

"Medical Education: The Past, Present, and Future”

At the end of the presentation, participants will be able to:

• Reflect on the history of medical education assessment and our failure to fail culture…
• Apply strategies to optimally use our current methods of assessment
• Debate the future directions of assessment in medical education

Dr. Rob Woods, MD, FRCPC, MMEd, DRCPSC

Dr. Rob Woods completed his undergrad and medical school at the University of Saskatchewan, his Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Alberta, and his Masters of Medical Education through Dundee, Scotland.

Clinically he works as an Emergency Physician, and STARS Transport Physician. He has held several education roles, has won several local and national teaching awards, and is currently the Program Director for the Clinician Educator Diploma Program, an Area of Focused Competence (AFC) accredited by the Royal College of Physicians & Surgeons of Canada. He is also the chair of the Education Scholarship Committee for the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians and a Decision Editor for Education Scholarship at the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine. His current area of scholarship is around the quality of director observation narrative assessments.

Our very own RISE musician, Dr. Helen Chang, strikes again.  Thank you for making this great jingle about joining us on the bus from Saskatoon to Regina for RISE 2024!

Platform: USask Zoom with a hybrid afternoon workshop

Faculty Development was pleased to present its 6^th Annual RISE event on June 9, 2023. RISE was presented virtually for the third year in a row and is scheduled to take place in-person in Regina for 2024!  RISE is a sharing event to celebrate the medical education research and scholarship work that is being done in medicine and across the health professions in Saskatchewan. Starting in June 2017 this event is offered annually and showcases work by staff, faculty, and learners across the province. 

RISE 2023 saw 89 participants and featured 11 oral presentations and 18 electronic poster presentations.  Dr. Viren Naik, Chief Assessment Officer Medical Council of Canada, presented a plenary on “The Leadership we Need for Healthcare & Scholarship: It’s in All of Us”.  Dr. Shelley Ross, Past President CAME, Director Research & Innovation CBAS Support Program, Department of Family Medicine Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, presented a mini plenary “Improving and advancing postgraduate health professions education through research and scholarship” and post-event hybrid workshop “What if program evaluation was exciting instead of scary (or boring)? Approaching continuous quality improvement from a curiosity perspective".

Congratulations to our award winner Dr. Rob Woods for his presentation on “Your comment is not as helpful as it could be…do you still want to submit? Using natural language processing to identify the quality of supervisor narrative comments in competency based medical education”. We would like to acknowledge Tammy Glynn and her team at CME for making this virtual event happen, and to everyone who attended and presented. We hope to see you at next year’s in-person RISE in Regina!

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and accredited by the Division of Continuing Medical Education, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan for up to 4.5 MOC credit hours.

2023 RISE Abstract Booklet

Event Agenda

Event advertisement

Overall Event Objectives

By the end of this event, participants will be able to:

• Describe medical education research and scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan
• Network with others who share interest in medical education and scholarship
• Create collaborations / communities of practice that will support medical education research and scholarship in the CoM

Plenary: The Leadership We Need for Healthcare Education & Scholarship: It’s in All of Us

 By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand the nuance between leadership and leader.
• Appreciate the leadership journey in healthcare, education, and scholarship.
• Discuss success factors in developing leadership competencies.

Mini Plenary: Improving and advancing postgraduate health professions education through research and scholarship

 By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe different types of research and scholarship in health professions education
• Outline ways in which research can contribute to improvement of teaching and assessment
• Compose a research question that will allow them to identify or address a gap or need in their own education program 

Workshop: What if program evaluation was exciting instead of scary (or boring)? Approaching continuous quality improvement from a curiosity perspective

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the relationship between program evaluation and quality improvement 
• Describe at least two program evaluation models. 
• Show how setting the right questions in planning for program evaluation enhances relevance and utility of findings

Keynote presented by Dr. Viren Naik

“The Leadership We Need For Healthcare Education & Scholarship: It’s In All of Us”  

By the end of this session, participants will be able:

• To understand the nuance between leadership and leader.
• To appreciate the leadership journey in healthcare, education, and scholarship.
• To discuss success factors in developing leadership competencies. 

Dr. Viren N. Naik MD, MEd, MBA, FRCPC

Dr. Viren Naik is currently the Chief Assessment Officer at the Medical Council of Canada and a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine at the University of Ottawa. He has over 25 years of experience in academic medicine, and is an internationally recognized medical education leader with over 100 peer reviewed publications and grants.

Dr. Naik completed an Executive MBA at the Telfer School of Management and served as Vice President, Education for The Ottawa Hospital, one of the busiest academic health sciences centre in Canada. He moved to become Director, Assessment at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada where he oversaw the credentialing and examinations of all specialties. He serves as a Senior Medical Advisor for the establishment of the new School of Medicine at Toronto Metropolitan University.  

Dr. Naik continues his clinical practice in anesthesia and clinical leadership as the Medical Director for the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Program across greater eastern Ontario, a program that has been recognized and awarded nationally as a practice leader.

Mini Plenary & Workshop presented by Dr. Shelley Ross

MINI PLENARY

“Improving and advancing postgraduate health professions education through research and scholarship”

Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Describe different types of research and scholarship in health professions education.
• Outline ways in which research can contribute to improvement of teaching and assessment.
• Compose a research question that will allow them to identify or address a gap or need in their own education program.

WORKSHOP

“What if program evaluation was exciting instead of scary (or boring)? Approaching continuous quality improvement from a curiosity perspective”

Objectives: At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• Discuss the relationship between program evaluation and quality improvement. 
• Describe at least two program evaluation models. 
• Show how setting the right questions in planning for program evaluation enhances relevance and utility of findings.

Dr. Shelley Ross, PhD

Dr. Shelley Ross is a Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. She holds a PhD in Measurement and Evaluation from the University of Victoria (2008), and engages in research and scholarship that integrates theory with practice in teaching, learning, and assessment. Her primary research program focuses on examining and developing best practices in teaching and assessment, particularly in competency-based medical education contexts. She is involved in international consultation work in this area, in addition to work with the College of Family Physicians of Canada, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the Medical Council of Canada. She also collaborates extensively with other researchers across multiple areas of health professions education. Dr. Ross has held multiple leadership roles at the local and national level, and recently completed her term as President of the Canadian Association for Medical Education. Currently, she is the Director, Research and Innovation, for the Teaching & Assessment Support Program and the Education Strategic Planning Team Lead for her Department.

Platform: USask Zoom

Faculty Development was pleased to present its 5^th Annual RISE (Research, Innovation and Scholarship in Education) event on June 10, 2022. RISE was presented virtually for the second year in a row and hopes to be in-person in 2023.  RISE is a sharing event to celebrate the medical education research and scholarship work that is being done in medicine and across the health professions in the province of Saskatchewan. Starting in June 2017 this event is offered annually and showcases work by staff, faculty, and learners across the province.

RISE 2022 saw over 80 participants, featured 16 oral presentations and 8 electronic poster presentations.  New for this year’s plenary presentation, the top ranked abstract in each of the three categories (Education Innovation, Qualitative Education Research, and Quantitative Education Research) were invited to present as our plenary speakers.  A post-event presentation "Health Professions Education Programs: A Bridge to Quality Improvement" was offered by Dr. Rob Woods, Director, Clinician Educator Diploma Program, Associate Professor Emergency Medicine and Dr. Kalyani Premkumar, Professor Community Health and Epidemiology, CoM Lead Masters in Education (Health Professions Education).

Congratulations to our award winner Sibtain Ali for his presentation on ‘Health Profession Educator's Experiences amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Equity Concerns'.  Also a special note to our two other plenary presenters Vivian Murungi and Dr. Christine Pask, and honorable mentions Dr. Paul Olszynski and Loni Desanghere. 

We would like to acknowledge Darla Schiebelbein and her team at CME for making this virtual event happen, and to everyone to attended and presented. We hope to see you at next year’s RISE!

This event is an Accredited Group Learning Activity (Section 1) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and accredited by the Division of Continuing Medical Education, College of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan for up to 2.75 MOC credit hours.

Abstract Booklet

Event Agenda

Event Poster

Overall Event Objectives

• Describe medical education research and scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan
• Network with others who share interest in medical education and scholarship
• Create collaborations / communities of practice that will support medical education research and scholarship in the CoM

Presented by Dr. Kalyani Premkumar, and Dr. Rob Woods.

• Identify elements in health professions education that require quality improvement
• Describe health professions education programs that are available provincially
• Explain the impact of health professions education on patientcare and society
• Discuss quality improvement in personal contexts

New for this year’s plenary presentation, the top ranked abstract in each of the three categories (Education Innovation, Qualitative Education Research, and Quantitative Education Research) were invited to present as our plenary speakers.

Education Innovation 

Dr. Christine Pask

'Building Good Professional Identity Formation, Collegiality, and Psychological Safety through an Innovative Faculty Development Initiative'

Dr. Christine Pask is a Family Physician who completed her medical school and residency training at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta. Although she currently resides in Alberta, she has worked in Edmonton and Saskatoon over the past seven years. She has interests in ethics, professional identity formation, and professionalism. She recently completed a Masters of Biomedical and Healthcare Ethics, and she continues to serve on the Biomedical Research Ethics Board at the University of Saskatchewan. In addition to preclinical and clinical teaching, she regularly examines for the College of Family Physicians of Canada certification exams. In her spare time (and not-so-spare time), she enjoys a nice cup of coffee.

Qualitative Education Research

Sibtain Ali |  Winner of the Faculty Development RISE Award

'Health Profession Educator's Experiences amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic and Digital Equity Concerns'

Sibtain Ali is a student at the University of Saskatchewan with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physiology and Pharmacology. He has 2 years of experience as a research assistant. His research consists primarily of health profession education during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. As a student he hopes to provide a unique perspective when researching education and educator experiences. Sibtain will begin his M.D. degree this fall to further his career in healthcare, and research.

Quantitative Education Research 

Vivian Murungi

'Reliability and utility of the Quality of Assessment for Learning (QuAL) score for evaluating written feedback in anesthesiology postgraduate medical education'

Vivian Murungi has just graduated from the College of Medicine. She is currently planning to move to British Columbia for her residency in Anesthesiology. In her free time she likes to travel, listen to music, and spend time with her family. 

• 2021 Abstract Booklet
• Event Poster
• Agenda

• Examine a series of research studies on feedback in clinical education as a springboard for discussion on research for the busy clinician
• Share, discuss and analyze tips for success at each stage of a research project (from conception through to publication)
• Develop a critique of current coaching conversations during clinical supervision
• Formulate a ‘do-able’ research question pertaining to coaching
• Describe medical education research and scholarship at the University of Saskatchewan
• Network with others who share interest in medical education and scholarship
• Create collaborations / communities of practice that will support medical education research and scholarship in the CoM

Dr. Rose Hatala, MD, MSc Keynote: Tips for Success in Medical Education Research for the Busy Clinician'

Optional Workshop: Dr. Rose Hatala, MD, MSc & Dr. Sharon Card, MD, MSc, FRCPC; "Coaching Conversations in Competency-Based Education: where do our research questions lie?"

Medical Education Research & Scholarship Day (MERSD) was unfortunately canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19.

The 3rd annual MERSD (Medical Education Research and Scholarship Day) was held for the first time in Regina on June 7, 2019. We had 33 oral presentations in 3 streams: Curriculum, PG/CPD/CBME, and Enhancing Education; and 16 posters presented.  Our two plenary speakers - Dr. Francis Christian (Surgical Humanities) and Dr. Sara Kim (Conflict Management) - gave inspiring and thought-provoking lectures.

Michelle McCarron and Elan Paluck graciously acted as our adjudicators for the poster competition. The winner of this year’s poster competition was Regina’s Lindsay Edgington, CoM Pharmacy: Evaluation of a Pharmacy Department Continuing Education Framework (EDGE).  Congratulations to Lindsay, and co-authors Zack Dumont, Suzanne Len, and Kirsten Tangedal. 

Thanks to our staff in Regina & Saskatoon for their hard work setting up the day, especially Jeanette and the CoM staff, Kris, IT, and Darla & Katherine from CME.  Thanks to Dr. Stobart and Dr. McKague for their support, and to all who attended the event.

A bus full of Saskatoon attendees made the trip to Regina in style, with breakfast provided and FD programming too, bringing our total attendance to approximately 88 people for the day. We look forward to another great MERSD next year in Saskatoon! 

We would like to continue to encourage local faculty to access FD programs for support.  Thanks to Jeanette Bellavance, Kris Schoenhofen, Dr. Gill White, and our Saskatoon colleagues for their invaluable assistance!

Faculty Development Lead, Regina

• 2019 MERSD Abstracts Booklet

The second annual MERSD took place in Saskatoon June 8, 2018.

2018 MERSD Abstracts Booklet

The first annual MERSD took place in Saskatoon on June 2, 2017.