Advancing Medical and Health Professions Education in Biostatistics: A Scoping Review of Instructional Approaches, Digital Pedagogy, and Evidence on Lasting Learning Outcomes and Transfer

Background: Biostatistical competence is essential to evidence-based clinical reasoning, yet biostatistics is often taught as a stand-alone course. This scoping review mapped how biostatistics is taught and assessed in medical and health professions education and when learning outcomes are measured relative to instruction. Methods: Following JBI methodology and PRISMA-ScR, we searched PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus for English-language studies published from 2015 onward (final search 2 October 2026) and charted instructional approaches, digital tools, assessment instruments, and the timing of outcome measurement. Results: Eighty-six studies were included, with 45 of them in medicine. Non-randomized controlled (21) and cross-sectional (20) designs predominated, and most studies measured end-of-course performance, perceptions, or attitudes with locally developed instruments. Of 15 controlled digital versus non-digital comparisons, 7 reported results favoring the digital format, and 6 reported no statistically significant difference. These comparisons were not critically appraised. Nine studies measured an outcome after instruction ended, mostly within three months. Only four reassessed the same learners, and no study followed learners into clinical practice. Conclusions: Biostatistics is taught and examined extensively, but the included studies rarely measured retention, and none assessed application in clinical practice. Validated measures of applied statistical reasoning and longitudinal designs are needed.