academic medicine minus the research

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luckyducky87

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I'd be interested in teaching at a medical school while practicing as a clinician too. However, I'm not as interested in staying involved in research. While I have significant research experience and I don't hate it, it's not something I find SO enjoyable. Is this a career possibility without feeling like you're on a limbo (e.g. year-to-year contract renewal and therefore no job stability, not as much respect from colleagues in academia, etc)? Is this a fairly rare job description in the medical world? (i.e. most teaching positions come paired with research duties?)

Also, if this is what I'm interested in, should I still be focusing on a medical school program that is research-heavy and get involved in a significant research endeavor for the purpose of being well-qualified??

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To my knowledge universities have two different tracks for their attending physicians who are also faculty.

Both are active in clinical teaching, working with med students and residents in the hospital.

Some have an option for a tenure track which comes with research responsibilities.

The ACGME has requirements for the amount of publications coming from residency programs each year and I believe the LCME has similar requirements for med schools.

If you find yourself a job at a program with a very active research department then you will likely not have any required research component to your job because they can easily meet their quotas. If you pick another more community based program then you might have to cough up some sort of QA project each year.

But really the decision between academic and community medicine is something you should be making during your residency.
 
There are usually 3 tracks. Tenure track (50+% research, publish or perish, challenging to get promoted, etc.), and 2 non tenured tracks. One is ~20% research, publish or perish, but much easier to get promoted. The other is 100% clinical with no research requirements. Sometimes the 100% clinical track is challenging to get promoted to full professor as it is a relatively new academic pathway and all the details are not fully worked out.
It's important to note that while the university may have all the pathways, your future department may not be interested in hiring 100% clinical people. My department currently doesn't want to hire any non research people and the critical care division only has a couple 100% clinical guys.
 
There are usually 3 tracks. Tenure track (50+% research, publish or perish, challenging to get promoted, etc.), and 2 non tenured tracks. One is ~20% research, publish or perish, but much easier to get promoted. The other is 100% clinical with no research requirements. Sometimes the 100% clinical track is challenging to get promoted to full professor as it is a relatively new academic pathway and all the details are not fully worked out.
It's important to note that while the university may have all the pathways, your future department may not be interested in hiring 100% clinical people. My department currently doesn't want to hire any non research people and the critical care division only has a couple 100% clinical guys.
That sounds like my kind of deal. :thumbup:
 
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