EM and biomedical research

ambiguous · Jan 19, 2006

hi. i'm just starting medical school and therefore I am still very uninformed and ignorant when it comes to many things in medicine. but in desire of collecting as much information as early on in my career, i was curious as to whether it is common for EM docs to do biomedical (bench) research or if its only clinical research. can you do any kind of research you want? or does it have to somehow relate to EM.

The reason I ask this is because I personally am very interested in doing some kind of research related to aids. i know its a broad field but i'm still not sure at what angle i want to approach it. What i do know is in terms of clinical practice, i am very drawn to EM. ive been told that i should just go into ID if i want to do research on aids. however, i am very drawn to the excitement, challenge and opportunities provided in EM. Therefore I ask, is it unrealistic to do research thats not directly related to EM? or IS there a relation im totally missing that i can make b/w the two?

Thanks in advance.

basementbeastie · Jan 20, 2006

we see a ton of hiv/aids in EM. in terms of bench research i think that pitt and mcv are doing a lot. there are probably others that i am less aware of.

conrad · Jan 20, 2006

As an MD/PhD student, this (EM and basic science research) is something I'm very interested in doing as a career, though many of my advisors suggest that Neurology or Neurosurgery would be a better choice (that's putting it mildly).

ERMudPhud knows much more about these kinds of things, but based on what I know or want to believe, it is definitely possible. For a faculty position in EM, it helps to be studying an EM-related topic, but one could also advance in the standard research track in a basic science department while working as a private practitioner part time.

Finally, a look at the NIH Awards in Emergency Medicine can give you an idea as to which departments are being funded for basic science research:

2002 2003
By institution, 2004

Based on these lists it seems like Penn, Emory, and Pitt are the places with the most NIH-funded basic science research by EM faculty. It might also be possible to do EM and research in a different department (eg. Immunology) in a large university that is strong in both.

BKN · Jan 21, 2006

ambiguous said:
hi. i'm just starting medical school and therefore I am still very uninformed and ignorant when it comes to many things in medicine. but in desire of collecting as much information as early on in my career, i was curious as to whether it is common for EM docs to do biomedical (bench) research or if its only clinical research. can you do any kind of research you want? or does it have to somehow relate to EM.

The reason I ask this is because I personally am very interested in doing some kind of research related to aids. i know its a broad field but i'm still not sure at what angle i want to approach it. What i do know is in terms of clinical practice, i am very drawn to EM. ive been told that i should just go into ID if i want to do research on aids. however, i am very drawn to the excitement, challenge and opportunities provided in EM. Therefore I ask, is it unrealistic to do research thats not directly related to EM? or IS there a relation im totally missing that i can make b/w the two?

Thanks in advance.

EM is related to everything, so you can argue that whatever your interest you could be an EP and do research. that said, EM is a newish specialty, the department totals listed in the link Conrad has provided are very small (compare to the same listing for Int Med) and the ED is a very difficult place to accomplish clinical research for at least four reasons:

1. You only "own" the patients for a few hours. Can't get an outcome in that time.
2. You can't control the diagnoses you see. You might want to collect asthmatics one day and all you get are head bleeds.
3. You've got to be ready to collect data almost around the clock. that requires 5 FTEs. An asthma specialist could schedule his own patients for protocols.
4. There is a big problem with consent. How can you get an uncoerced consent for research from a patient who is crashing and afraid?

Having said all that, research is incredibly important in EM, it just may be easier to do it on bench projects than in the pit.

EM and biomedical research

ambiguous

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basementbeastie

Senior Member

conrad

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BKN

Senior Member

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