Research during residency and IRR

[ak44]

I'm considering applying for a 3 year Army HPSP as a first year medical student. Here are my questions.

1) Do Army physicians get an opportunity to do research and publish during their residency years? My understanding is that many of the residents in civilian programs get to spend a good amount of time doing research. Is this the case in the Army?

2) My recruiter mentioned IRR (Individual Ready Reserve). Apparently, if I serve fewer than 8 years on Active Duty (which is possible if I do a 3 year residency and serve the minimum commitment), I would be put on IRR for 2 years. Recently, have there been instances of physicians on IRR being asked to come back and serve?

Thanks in advance for your input!

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[HighPriest]

The research opportunities are extremely variable. Without a doubt, there are far fewer opportunities in the military than there would be at a major University. There is also generally less motivation and less incentive to do research. For certain university programs, research is considered more important than their clinical acumen. Many people graduate looking for University staff positions, which require research (whereas military staff positions do not).

I think a lot of residencies mandate that you do some research,but even in programs that provide an extra research year (like Army Gen Surg programs), I get the impression that the extra year of residency was made more to generate an extra year of ADSO than it was to facilitate research.

At larger MEDCENS, there will still be opportunities to do some research, often in conjunction with nearby universities. If you have a major University nearby, and if your residency has a working relationship with their own, then you can usually attach yourself to one of their projects.

I can tell you that, ultimately and in it's current state, the Army gives zero F^&$s about research. It will be up to you to facilitate your experience, and it is generally much harder to initiate projects in the Army system (simply because it has never had a reason to become streamlined like it has in larger systems).