Patrick Barlow, clinical associate professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and researcher affiliate at the Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI), likens his work at the University of Iowa to fashioning together a LEGO® masterpiece: he creatively pulls together different building blocks of data to generate answers to novel questions.

For example, in one of his many initiatives with the Carver College of Medicine (CCOM), Barlow, program evaluation consultant in CCOM's Office of Consultation & Research in Medical Education (OCRME), pulled together two different datasets to better understand course enrollment of fourth-year medical students.

Barlow was curious if taking electives in a particular clinical specialty later propelled these students to their desired residency. 

To answer this question, Barlow merged data on various clinical specialties pathways (i.e. anesthesia electives a student should take to become an anesthesiologist) and student record data (i.e. what electives students took and what future residency programs they entered).

“Those two data sources were completely independent of one another but being able to take those pieces and combine them into something new was extremely satisfying,” Barlow recalls.

During the project, Barlow discovered that many electives were denoted as “special study” rather than official names. Because they were unnamed, students may not know to enroll without the right connections.

Currently, Barlow is investigating how to improve student equity and accessibility for these courses.

When the project culminates, Barlow will provide CCOM with the study's insights and recommendations for how to improve medical education – as he has done previously with his other research endeavors.

For Barlow, the most impactful element of his work is seeing the tangible improvement in medical student education.

“I can see how every student and every faculty member experience curriculum differently and hopefully for the better. So that’s why it matters to me. I know my work has meaning beyond going into a journal – I can actually see it happening,” Barlow says.

A burgeoning love for assessment and evaluation

Barlow has always been surrounded by science growing up (you can thank his meteorologist father for that) but never envisioned working in medicine. Too squeamish for biology dissections, he found himself gravitating towards psychology.

Barlow recalls his high school psychology teacher tasking him with understanding if her course exams were adequately assessing student knowledge. The experience gave Barlow his first taste of program evaluation – and he was hooked.

While earning his undergraduate degrees in English and psychology from Saint John’s University near his hometown of the Twin Cities, Barlow developed his interest further as a research assistant for the university’s Office for Student Assessment.

Barlow helped professors assess students, such as a philosophy professor who was developing a survey to gauge student philosophical disposition.

“The experience was something I latched onto. It was something I was comfortable doing, really excelled at, and loved,” Barlow reflects.

Cultivating his passion further, Barlow obtained a PhD from the University of Tennessee in evaluation, statistics and measurement, before eventually arriving at the University of Iowa.

A pivotal methodological framework

Barlow, a self-described professional generalist, tackles numerous other questions across campus. Faculty members from various disciplines bring the content expertise to the table, while Barlow supplements it – free of charge – with his methodological expertise.

“I feel most at home when I can help someone else make their research better,” Barlow explains.

For instance, a recent and rewarding endeavor for Barlow was determining the efficacy of a survey about dental students’ treatment towards elderly patients. While Barlow isn’t formally educated in dentistry or other clinical disciplines, his methodologies (which include survey development and psychometric expertise) offer an important framework – one that other institutions have picked up on.

“It’s not the what, but the how I really enjoy. The benefit is I get to do so many different things and I love it.”

Where social science and medicine meet

For Barlow, social science has had a crucial but sometimes overlooked role in medicine, as social science knowledge can address diverse medical dilemmas.

For example, social scientists can help translate and transform medical breakthroughs in the laboratory to public health initiatives and hospital bedside tables.

Barlow also recognizes the need for social science research to assess the quality of medical education.

“We would not have the standard experiences students get in medical school, such as patient simulation and board exams, without social science research,” Barlow emphasizes.

Finally, Barlow believes social science research is necessary to inform best practices for funded evaluations of innovative medical-related work on campus.

Barlow’s appreciation and affinity for social science has made CSSI a natural partner. He recalls how Dawn Bower, project specialist at CSSI, helped him with monetary incentives and related procedures concerning a survey assessing the potential of a genetic counseling graduate program at CCOM.

“It was a more successful project because we didn’t have to deal with that additional administrative burden. I knew that Dawn had everything handled if I just shared the link to the survey with her.”

Building datasets and LEGO® masterpieces

At home, Barlow loves building, tinkering, and upcycling various objects, including LEGO® masterpieces (a medium he and his daughter are well skilled in).

Barlow draws close parallels between this past-time hobby and his various research responsibilities at the university.

“When I do a project like restore an antique table, I take it completely down to its bones and then figure out how to put them back together,” Barlow expresses. “I use that creative outlook at work when I am building new datasets and doing related projects.” 

To learn more about CSSI’s researcher affiliate program, please visit our website.

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