Catatan

It was the nuclear physicist and father of the hydrogen
bomb, Edmund Teller, who wrote (perhaps rather
alarmingly) ‘Confusion is no bad thing; it is the first step
towards understanding’ [1, p. 79]. Newcomers to the field
of medical education could be forgiven for being confused.
Medical education is a busy, clamorous place, where a host
of pedagogical practices, educational philosophies, and
conceptual frameworks collide. It is a place where academic
journals vie for attention, institutions and professional
bodies compete for political leverage, and the wheel of
reform and ‘improvement’ revolves faster than, and often
independently of, the cycle of evaluation and research. And
it is a place of increasing accountability and regulation
because of its proximity to one of the prime socio‐political
concerns of government, that of the health of its people.
It was the desire to develop evidence‐based policy and
practice in this complex arena that led to the establishment
of the Association for the Study of Medical Education
(ASME) in 1957. The past 60years have seen a burgeoning
of literature in the field. This is both a help and a challenge
to the clinician taking on responsibilities for teaching,
assessment, and educational supervision. The range and
diversity of relevant theory and research are now almost
overwhelming, and in 2006 ASME recognised the need for
a succinct yet comprehensive guide to the vast literature
now underpinning best practice in medical education.
Understanding Medical Education aims to be that guide.