Distributing Research Time: One day per week, One week Per Month, One Month at a Time

[9732doc]

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I have negotiated research time during residency. Over 4 years of residency, I will get a total of 8 months. I am very glad to be getting any time at all, but I think we all realize that 8 months is not very much. Nevertheless, I'm thinking about different ways of distributing the time.

From what I've seen, there are two basic ways to use the time: Massed (all at once) or interleaved (distributed across time).

Main Benefit of Massed: Ability to do labor-intensive experiments or analysis that requires long stretches of uninterrupted time.
Main drawback of Massed: Long periods of time (years) out of science and with no lab activity.

The benefit of interleaved (distributed) is that you can maintain continuous activity and productivity, albeit still with gaps (weeks to months). Not all kinds of science is amenable to these gaps. I think science where the experimentation can get done in short bursts and then analysis can be done outside the lab, are well-suited to distributed time models. And with the help of a tech, the experiments keep going. I'm inclined to favor this model. I do genomics, so I'm used to getting a lot of data quickly and then spending more time analyzing.

So the decision then becomes, how to split up the time?

• From a logistical standpoint for staffing clinical services, month at a time is probably the easiest, since rotations usually happen on blocks of months. With 2 months per year, that will leave large gaps where I will not be in lab
• So I've been thinking about one week per month. That would give 8 weeks. If you're efficient, a week is useful unit of time. You can actually get stuff done in that time if you're teed up. And you can maintain a more regular presence in the lab.
• Lastly, there is one day per week, which some programs advertised when I interviewed. A day is really not much, and more importantly, I find task-switching really challenging. I need a day just to switch modes. When I'm no longer a trainee, I would rather do one week a month clinical than one day a week, as many do. I've seen some young MD-PHD faculty at my home institution, and that one clinical day bleeds into the next . You're really 60/40 at that point, and not 80/20. But I digress.

Anyway, what do you all think?

Distributed vs massed the better way to go? And if so, one week at a time or one month at a time?

 

[Fencer]

It truly depends upon your science. Quite often a hybrid is the best... Having a few weeks of full-time (or almost full-time) to set up a experiment and train a helper, followed by repeated once a week days (half-days) to assess progress, and then followed by another block of almost/full-time to assess results, etc.

 

[9732doc]

It truly depends upon your science. Quite often a hybrid is the best... Having a few weeks of full-time (or almost full-time) to set up a experiment and train a helper, followed by repeated once a week days (half-days) to assess progress, and then followed by another block of almost/full-time to assess results, etc.

Excellent thoughts @Fencer. A hybrid strategy has advantages. I think the limiting factor here might be logistics for staffing, but that will be program and rotation dependent. I've thought about doing a month early in the year (train a helper, get things moving) and then drop in once a week or one week at a time for the rest of the year. Maybe with afternoons I can have more presence (although 4-5 h is very little time). If I do a Friday, I can extend into the weekend if necessary (if the other boss, i.e. wife, doesn't give me too much pushback 😀)

Many ways to make this work. I'm going to experiment with different ways. It's fairly low risk to try different stuff now during residency to learn what might be optimal for later on in my career.

 

[Neuronix]

train a helper

Residents get helpers to run their experiments? What is this magic fairy tale land?

 

[9732doc]

Residents get helpers to run their experiments? What is this magic fairy tale land?

I think people are beginning to realize that if you want to stop the attrition from research during residency, you need to provide the support to enable people to actually be productive. Here is a new initiative that looks extremely promising. Not a guarantee, but some candidates will get a technician and research funding:

Duke R38 Research Pathway | medicine.duke.edu

And this program at PSTP at UNC provides significant funds during research years (PGY3+) with which you can hire helpers.

Program Overview — physician-scientist

Things are changing for the better I hope.

 

[nonamesleft]

Residents get helpers to run their experiments? What is this magic fairy tale land?

"helpers" aka med students. I've been recruited for a few, and currently working on one. Much less fun than having my own project though, but better clinical resources and faculty support (because resident research is mandatory, student research is optional)

 

[Neuronix]

Med students are not very useful for carrying forward lab projects. There are very few with the necessary skillsets and they are typically too transient to accomplish much in my experience. Simple, more clinically oriented projects are better.