Academic Medicine?

[Kip]

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Does Academic Medicine necessarily entail research? Can it just mean you are affiliated with an institution at which you do clinical work and help teach?

 

[fishbait63]

It depends it often entails research how much can be up to you... but advancement heavily depends on your research resume, lectures and awards (which tend to depend on your research).

I have seen professors at research powerhouses who seem to publish maybe 1/2 times per year...

Teaching is an important factor.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Does Academic Medicine necessarily entail research? Can it just mean you are affiliated with an institution at which you do clinical work and help teach?

A lot of purely clinical positions at academic hospitals are non-tenure track, and I've even heard a couple of cases where they have a limited contract without renewal option (i.e. 5 years and then you are gone).

 

[NickNaylor]

I know some academics spend a majority of their time in clinic and teaching, with little to no research involvement. Not sure how common these positions are, but they do exist.

 

[LizzyM]

There are generally two types of physicians affiliated with medical schools: those who are salaried by the school and those who earn their own way through clinical income. Both types admit patients to the local medical center (although these days there are often hospitalists (physicians who take care of people only while they are in the hospital) to handle the day-to-day care of the hospitalized patient giving the referring physician more time to spend in the outpatient setting. Those who are salaried are more likely to do research although this is not universal. At the very least, you may be encouraged to be involved in clinical trials of new drugs for the diseases treated by your specialty. This means explaining the research to your patient, obtaining informed consent, and supervising the care of the patient during the trial. There is a lot of paperwork but you can generally get assistants to help with the bulk of it.

Some physician-investigators do bench research (at a laboratory bench) and some do secondary data analysis, data mining and other "health services research" that involves computers rather and pipettes.

Both types of doctors do some patient care although the amount varies from one half day per week to 100% time. Both types of doctors do some teaching. This can mean giving lectures to an entire class or teaching a small group at the bedside. Faculty also contribute by serving as discussion leaders for small groups (such as Problem Based Learning - PBL) and supervising residents who are providing care.

 

[Kip]

There are generally two types of physicians affiliated with medical schools: those who are salaried by the school and those who earn their own way through clinical income. Both types admit patients to the local medical center (although these days there are often hospitalists (physicians who take care of people only while they are in the hospital) to handle the day-to-day care of the hospitalized patient giving the referring physician more time to spend in the outpatient setting. Those who are salaried are more likely to do research although this is not universal. At the very least, you may be encouraged to be involved in clinical trials of new drugs for the diseases treated by your specialty. This means explaining the research to your patient, obtaining informed consent, and supervising the care of the patient during the trial. There is a lot of paperwork but you can generally get assistants to help with the bulk of it.

Some physician-investigators do bench research (at a laboratory bench) and some do secondary data analysis, data mining and other "health services research" that involves computers rather and pipettes.

Both types of doctors do some patient care although the amount varies from one half day per week to 100% time. Both types of doctors do some teaching. This can mean giving lectures to an entire class or teaching a small group at the bedside. Faculty also contribute by serving as discussion leaders for small groups (such as Problem Based Learning - PBL) and supervising residents who are providing care.

Thanks! That cleared up a lot.

 

[boggvir]

There are generally two types of physicians affiliated with medical schools: those who are salaried by the school and those who earn their own way through clinical income. Both types admit patients to the local medical center (although these days there are often hospitalists (physicians who take care of people only while they are in the hospital) to handle the day-to-day care of the hospitalized patient giving the referring physician more time to spend in the outpatient setting. Those who are salaried are more likely to do research although this is not universal. At the very least, you may be encouraged to be involved in clinical trials of new drugs for the diseases treated by your specialty. This means explaining the research to your patient, obtaining informed consent, and supervising the care of the patient during the trial. There is a lot of paperwork but you can generally get assistants to help with the bulk of it.

Some physician-investigators do bench research (at a laboratory bench) and some do secondary data analysis, data mining and other "health services research" that involves computers rather and pipettes.

Both types of doctors do some patient care although the amount varies from one half day per week to 100% time. Both types of doctors do some teaching. This can mean giving lectures to an entire class or teaching a small group at the bedside. Faculty also contribute by serving as discussion leaders for small groups (such as Problem Based Learning - PBL) and supervising residents who are providing care.

LizzyM, if you're interested in academic medicine but you have very little experience going into med school, is it possible to make it up during your medical school career and/or residency (by doing research in the summer, or during residency, etc)? I am potentially interested in doing research with drug trials and other types of clinical investigation as well as being involved with teaching.

Is there anything else you can do (maybe get some research experience for a few months prior to med school, etc)?

 

[paul411]

I have seen professors at research powerhouses who seem to publish maybe 1/2 times per year...

Dayum, that's almost 1 paper every two years!

😛 JK, just looked like "half" instead of "one or two" at first glance

 

[LizzyM]

LizzyM, if you're interested in academic medicine but you have very little experience going into med school, is it possible to make it up during your medical school career and/or residency (by doing research in the summer, or during residency, etc)? I am potentially interested in doing research with drug trials and other types of clinical investigation as well as being involved with teaching.

Is there anything else you can do (maybe get some research experience for a few months prior to med school, etc)?

Clinical trials in general don't require bench research skills and so the bar for entry is much lower for medical students and residents with no previous experience in research. It does require meticulous observation and documentation but the object of your attention is a human subject rather than a plate or a gel.

 

[HW51Revisited]

Again, it really just depends.

My dad was in academic medicine (at the same institution) for over 20 years and rarely published. He did mostly clinical work and taught specialized courses for the med students and residents.

He says the basic deal was that if he wanted to get promoted he would have needed to do more research and specialize more. But he was always happy with his position so never had any reason to.

 

[theacks1]

If you do a search for academic medicine, there is a great Q&A thread in the mentor forum where Tildy and a few other attendings answer a lot of questions about academic medicine.