PhD/PsyD Getting back into research?

[Psychchick09]

Hi all, I’ve been working clinically with a phd for about 5 years now and am feeling a bit burnt out, but also pulled to do more research again. The parts of my job I’ve been enjoying most are program development and evaluation, quality improvement, etc, which makes me think that a more research-focused job may be a good fit. But give that I haven’t really done a ton of research since post-doc (and even then it was a relatively small, non-published study with existing data). I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts on the best way to get back into it.

Thanks!!

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[albatross_at_crossroads]

Hello!

Well it depends on what resources you have available near you and how your network looks like. For example, if you are in touch with people from a local university, you can offer to co-PI on some of their research or consult (depending on your expertise). I have seen several clinicians partner up with university researchers and use that to get back into research. You could also offer to be a guest lecturer to grad courses and build up your network of faculty that way. I've also seen people start teaching as adjuncts for the grad program, and then building up to include some research collabs.

Given your interests in program evaluation and quality improvement, there might be some opportunities at a department-run clinic - maybe they need someone to help implement some outcome based evals of their work, or analyze some data they have been collecting. A hospital or clinic might also be interested in this as well, since it always seems to be on the mind of leadership, but never have the capacity to start anything meaningful in that regard.

Reaching out to a former lab/supervisor might also be helpful in getting back to research as well.
However, I think you have to keep in mind that you will probably have to volunteer your time for many of these opportunities, and that it will add to your current workload without a lot of financial compensation, at least not at the start. From my discussions with clinicians that transition back into research, it seems difficult to find a balance. A lot of times, they reduce their clinical work a lot to take on research work. So this is something else to keep in mind.

 

[butteredtoast27]

Do you work in the VA? I've found some increased satisfaction with doing QI/OD work with various teams throughout the hospital system at my VA site. We even now offer this type of work as an internship rotation, so it's a fun opportunity to supervise trainees as well.

 

[Psychchick09]

Do you work in the VA? I've found some increased satisfaction with doing QI/OD work with various teams throughout the hospital system at my VA site. We even now offer this type of work as an internship rotation, so it's a fun opportunity to supervise trainees as well.

I used to! I left for something that I thought would be more aligned with what I’m looking for but ultimately still isn’t a great fit. May be worth looking into VA again!

 

[summerbabe]

I used to! I left for something that I thought would be more aligned with what I’m looking for but ultimately still isn’t a great fit. May be worth looking into VA again!

FYI, VA is running at a massive budget deficit that almost certainly needs a major congressional bailout so the only jobs that seem to be getting approved (if they can at all) are high clinical load ones for the foreseeable future.

And I’ve noticed an uptick in requests like blocking clinics to attend trainings or certain meetings get denied recently that would get previously approved in my dept.

Not sure if QI/program analyst roles at national/regional VA, which are fully non-clinical, have been impacted but I assume many of those require an ‘in’ to be seriously considered.

What type of setting are you in currently? Are you able to further shift into more administrative roles or are those avenues closed off?

 

[Psychchick09]

FYI, VA is running at a massive budget deficit that almost certainly needs a major congressional bailout so the only jobs that seem to be getting approved (if they can at all) are high clinical load ones for the foreseeable future.

And I’ve noticed an uptick in requests like blocking clinics to attend trainings or certain meetings get denied recently that would get previously approved in my dept.

Not sure if QI/program analyst roles at national/regional VA, which are fully non-clinical, have been impacted but I assume many of those require an ‘in’ to be seriously considered.

What type of setting are you in currently? Are you able to further shift into more administrative roles or are those avenues closed off?

Yes, all my VA friends have been keeping me in the loop! I’m currently at a Clinical Psych training clinic as a supervisor. I do have more administrative responsibilities starting this fall, so I may see if that scratches the itch. I will also fully acknowledge that at least some of my desire for change is coming from a place of burnout and just wanting less human interaction in my work day (or at least less human interaction that requires a lot of validation/challenging/teaching).