Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41530956›Full record

ArticleMedical education online2026

Preferences of health professions learners: a scoping review of the use and role of DCEs in health professions education.

Sarah O'Neal, Natalie Smith, Jan Ostermann, Binbin Zheng, Laiton Steele, Chris Gillette

Abstract readScoping Review
In one paragraph

Article in Medical education online, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Sarah O'NealDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Natalie SmithDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Jan OstermannArnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA.
Binbin ZhengDepartment of Health Professions Education, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-6160-0104
Laiton SteeleDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.
Chris GilletteDepartment of PA Studies, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.

Funding

AHCRA: Access to Health Care in Rural AppalachiaR21MD019127 · NIMHD · WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI GILLETTE, CHRIS, OSTERMANN, JAN · 2023 to 2024
$446k
NIMHD NIH HHS R21 MD019127
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

While discrete choice experiments (DCE), have increasingly been used in the medical literature, little is known about the use of these methods for eliciting preferences from and about students and trainees in health professions. The objectives of this scoping review are to (1) describe the extent to which DCEs have been used in health professions' education, (2) identify which health professionals have been studied, and (3) identify thematic areas of research in which these methods have been used thematic areas. Between June and September 2024, we conducted a scoping review of the PubMed/Medline, EconLit, Web of Science, and Global Index Medicus databases to identify articles. Studies were eligible for inclusion in this review if they included a health profession training population and if conjoint analysis, DCE, or best-worst scaling studies were used. Forty-nine articles, comprising 60 studies and 21,731 health profession trainees, were included in this review. Medical and nursing students constitute the majority of the population studied. The greatest number of studies have been conducted in China (

Indexed as

Choice BehaviorHealth OccupationsHealth PersonnelCareer ChoiceHumansStudents, MedicalEconomics, medicaleducation, medicaleducation, pharmacyeducation, professionalnursing education researchstated preferences

Identifiers

PMID41530956
PMCPMC12805852

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.