Futures Studies Approaches in Medical Education: A BEME Systematic Review: BEME Guide No. 52.

Background: Over 50 years after the introduction of futures studies, the number of such studies in medical education is very limited. Familiarization with futures studies can have a positive effect on the application of these studies in medical education. The study was performed to Review and synthesize the best existing evidence in the literature that addresses the question, What are the most effective futures studies approaches in medical education? Methods: Based on Best Evidence Medical Education (BEME) guidelines, a review of PubMed, Scopus, Educational Resource Information Center, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (1976–2019), was conducted with the search strategy of (futures studies OR future studies), Medical education, and approach OR method. Hand searching and grey literature search were also used. According to inclusion criteria, all abstracts and papers were screened by pairs of reviewers. Using the presage process product (3P) model, analyzing and synthesizing the included studies was performed. Results: From screening 1533 abstracts, 7 articles met the inclusion criteria. A wide range of futures studies methods have been introduced for medical education, but the most commonly used methods were different types of scenarios. Conclusion: Using different forms of scenario was the most used method in future studies in medical education. The variety and breadth of future studies in medical education call for a more and more specific and limited number of methods to be undertaken in this field.