Components of Professional Development of Heads of Departments of Medical Sciences: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Medical universities need more than ever competent and effective managers and leaders to face the threats and challenges of the modern world. The aim of this research was to review the studies on the components of professional development of medical education heads of departments.

This systematic review examined the studies related to the components of professional development of medical education heads of departments published in Persian and English from 1990 to 2016. The keywords “professional development, department chair, department head, program director, educational leadership, and leadership development” were used to search through the databases of Cochran Data Base of Systematic Review, Eric, Medline, PubMed, Science Direct, Sage, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, ProQuest, SID, Iran Medex, and Magiran. The initial search yielded 1065 articles. Having the articles screened and qualitatively evaluated, final synthesis was performed on 35 articles. The data analysis method was framework analysis.

Synthesis of the related articles in two categories of higher education and medical education identified the components of professional development of medical education heads of departments in six themes including managerial development, leadership development, personal development, educational development, research development, and clinical development.

The six themes derived from this systematic review can be used as an effective model for designing professional development programs for medical education heads of departments and have useful results to improve the quality of medical education.