Clinical research questions

libraryismyhome · May 2, 2011

I am a premed and would like to spend this upcoming gap year with ton of clinical research experience. I would like to get at least one or two abstracts during this gap year.

Many people were saying that it takes shorter time to get publications in clinical than basic research. But this seems like an incomplete statement because it is depended on the projects since it could take several years of field study.

(1) How do I ask the mentor that whether their project is in the process of "wrapping up" or "doesn't require 7 years of field study" so that I would be able to take a role and write abstracts within a year?

(2) What kind of quality research projects are publishable within short time? I heard that projects about patients with unique disorder take short time but they are low in quality once published.

(3) After I manage to find the right mentor and accomplish my goals in GI field, but once I am in med school, let's assume that I would like to change my mind and want to do Cardiology. Then what would happen to my abstracts and publications in GI? Their "helpfulness" would be vastly degraded?

glasshalfMD · May 2, 2011

First off, is English your first language? Some of the word choice in these questions and statements make it nearly impossible to figure out what you are trying to say.

As far as answering your questions:
(1) IMO, you shouldn't need to do this. Even if you enter the study at the beginning or the middle, there are still chances to write things up. You can create your own retrospective study and mine some data once you get IRB approval. That takes very little time. Or, you can pull apart a small facet of the study and go from there. For example, I work in MRI research. Most of my abstracts DO have to deal with 'results' based on the hearing loss projects I work on - but one or two are more geared toward methodology than anything else. You can make it work if you set your mind to it - and the PI will think you're the shizz if you suggest something he wasn't thinking.

(2) yea, case reports are quick, but they're often not as 'impactful.' Honestly though, you shouldn't be looking for the most interesting or the most exciting - that's being too lofty. You should instead find what you can and go from there. Like I said, I work in MRI research. It comes highly recommended in my book. There are TONS of opportunities for analysis, writing, even meta-analyses (seeing what's already out there and summarizing it).

(3) nope. Pubs of any kind will help you, regardless of the topic. Besides, if the topic seems random and off the wall, it will just make you look more versatile and well-rounded, IMO.

Good luck!

libraryismyhome · May 2, 2011

glasshalfMD said:
First off, is English your first language? Some of the word choice in these questions and statements make it nearly impossible to figure out what you are trying to say.

As far as answering your questions:
(1) IMO, you shouldn't need to do this. Even if you enter the study at the beginning or the middle, there are still chances to write things up. You can create your own retrospective study and mine some data once you get IRB approval. That takes very little time. Or, you can pull apart a small facet of the study and go from there. For example, I work in MRI research. Most of my abstracts DO have to deal with 'results' based on the hearing loss projects I work on - but one or two are more geared toward methodology than anything else. You can make it work if you set your mind to it - and the PI will think you're the shizz if you suggest something he wasn't thinking.

(2) yea, case reports are quick, but they're often not as 'impactful.' Honestly though, you shouldn't be looking for the most interesting or the most exciting - that's being too lofty. You should instead find what you can and go from there. Like I said, I work in MRI research. It comes highly recommended in my book. There are TONS of opportunities for analysis, writing, even meta-analyses (seeing what's already out there and summarizing it).

(3) nope. Pubs of any kind will help you, regardless of the topic. Besides, if the topic seems random and off the wall, it will just make you look more versatile and well-rounded, IMO.

Good luck!

Thank you so much for your reply!! Yeah I had to polish my sentences before posting. English is my second language. Since I have never done clinical research before, I don't quite understand several terms and phrases you used.

(1) Retrospective study??
(2) geared toward methodology? How do you write abstracts just based on methods? wow...
(3) what do you mean by highly recommended in my book?

glasshalfMD · May 2, 2011

libraryismyhome said:
Thank you so much for your reply!! Yeah I had to polish my sentences before posting. English is my second language. Since I have never done clinical research before, I don't quite understand several terms and phrases you used.

(1) Retrospective study??
(2) geared toward methodology? How do you write abstracts just based on methods? wow...
(3) what do you mean by highly recommended in my book?

Totally fine, I'm just sorry if I couldn't answer your questions so well because they were a bit difficult to figure out.

(1) retrospective = data that has already been collected. So, for example, looking through medical records to find out how many people from a particular past study had _________ (ex: anesthesia prior to age 4) and correlate it with data from the complete study (ex: MRI data). in short, all data has been collected, it's just a matter of looking at it and analyzing it.

(2) going back to the whole MRI thing, we were recently developing methods for getting infants and toddlers to sleep through scans in order to reduce motion and get rid of the need for sedation. that's something we could publish.

(3) I just really like MRI research, so I recommend it to everyone interested in clinical research 👍

libraryismyhome · May 2, 2011

glasshalfMD said:
Totally fine, I'm just sorry if I couldn't answer your questions so well because they were a bit difficult to figure out.

(1) retrospective = data that has already been collected. So, for example, looking through medical records to find out how many people from a particular past study had _________ (ex: anesthesia prior to age 4) and correlate it with data from the complete study (ex: MRI data). in short, all data has been collected, it's just a matter of looking at it and analyzing it.

(2) going back to the whole MRI thing, we were recently developing methods for getting infants and toddlers to sleep through scans in order to reduce motion and get rid of the need for sedation. that's something we could publish.

(3) I just really like MRI research, so I recommend it to everyone interested in clinical research 👍

Wow thank you so much!!! 😀
Do you mind if I PM u when I contact my potential mentors, so that I would know more before meeting them? (Need to finish MCAT in 3 weeks then contact)

glasshalfMD · May 2, 2011

libraryismyhome said:
Wow thank you so much!!! 😀
Do you mind if I PM u when I contact my potential mentors, so that I would know more before meeting them? (Need to finish MCAT in 3 weeks then contact)

Not a problem at all :luck:

Clinical research questions

libraryismyhome

Membership Revoked

glasshalfMD

40 weeks til MD?

libraryismyhome

Membership Revoked

glasshalfMD

40 weeks til MD?

libraryismyhome

Membership Revoked

glasshalfMD

40 weeks til MD?

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