Does Data Abstraction Count as Clinical Research?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

RealHumanBean1

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2015
Messages
74
Reaction score
66
Hi everyone. This is my first post and I don't frequent many forums so I apologize for breaking any regularly upheld norms/general rules of posting. Please feel free to inform me of any helpful posting tips.

Anyways, I'm a recent IU graduate (Neuroscience B.S. if anyone's curious) planning on applying this upcoming summer. I've never held an RA position or done any work in an actual lab - but was curious if it's appropriate to list experience with retroactive data abstraction as "clinical research" experience. I performed "retroactive data abstraction", which requires a bit more analysis than regular abstraction (for example, I often had to interpret limited amounts of charting to assign what I thought was the most appropriate stroke scale for said patient at the time in question). Also if you're feeling generous - any tips on getting involved with research as a postgrad would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Members don't see this ad.
 
What you're talking about is chart review and phenotype assignment/adjudication. Clinical research studies can't get done without people doing exactly the work you've described. We have summer students every year who do the same flavor of work, although they do it in the context of developing and testing a hypothesis, running the stats with some help and getting an abstract out of it. You should list it and be proud of it. You'd be surprised how many clinical fellows still have to do that kind of work to get their preliminary data in order. It's certainly no less valuable than running gels for someone.

Post-undergrad research is often done through research coordinator or lab tech positions if you're interested in pursuing research full-time, or sometimes part-time if you're working on post-bacc classes. Some places still allow volunteer research positions, but I shy away from them because you tend to get what you pay for, and because the power differential always leaves me feeling like I'm taking advantage of people. Look for places where you can be a tech and help the lab while also carving out a few projects for you to carry forward and lead to publication. Ask labs about where people have gone after they leave. My lab has close to 100% medical school or PhD program placement for full-time techs after their 2-3 years are done. Techs and coordinators are not career-path positions on their own -- there should be a quid pro quo where you produce for me, and I help you find clinical exposure, develop a publication history, and write great letters for you to get you where you want to be.
 
Top