Threshold concepts in medical education: A scoping review protocol

Threshold concepts are attracting increasing attention as a framework for improving medical education practice. A growing number of studies in recent years have explored the role of threshold concepts in knowledge and skill acquisition amongst medical students and physicians. However, no review has utilised a systematic approach to examine the literature in this area. The author therefore proposes to undertake a scoping review to explore and describe the current research regarding threshold concepts in medical education and identify gaps in the existing literature. Medical and education databases will be searched for studies exploring threshold concepts in undergraduate, graduate and continuing medical education contexts. The findings will be presented in the form of a descriptive numerical summary and a narrative synthesis. The review will provide a comprehensive overview of how the threshold concept framework is currently being utilised and applied, and provide recommendations for how medical educators can employ the framework in their own practice. Exploration of the research approaches being used, and identification of gaps in the literature, will help inform future research, including determining focus for future systematic reviews.