Have done basic research the last three years, how to best prepare for transition to clinical research during medical school ?

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Mr.Blackdoc.5

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Hi all,
Graduated from college a few years ago and have worked in a basic research lab for the last three years. Although I do enjoy being at the bench and the thrill of experimental results supporting a hypothesis, I think I want to transition to clinical research in medical school. 1) I think clinical research will be easier to fit in between classes during the semester, 2) lends itself to a better work-life balance, 3) easier to be successful in (aka publish multiple manuscripts).

I'm currently applying to medical school and understand thinking about this transition might be a bit premature, but I'll have a lot of free time this next gap year and want to prepare myself as best as I can for being successful in clinical research when I (hopefully) enter school. Does anyone have any recommendations as to how I can best prepare for a transition to clinical research. Of note, I have no computer science background, but will definitely put in the time to learn biostats, etc. if needed.

Thanks

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Hi all,
Graduated from college a few years ago and have worked in a basic research lab for the last three years. Although I do enjoy being at the bench and the thrill of experimental results supporting a hypothesis, I think I want to transition to clinical research in medical school. 1) I think clinical research will be easier to fit in between classes during the semester, 2) lends itself to a better work-life balance, 3) easier to be successful in (aka publish multiple manuscripts).

I'm currently applying to medical school and understand thinking about this transition might be a bit premature, but I'll have a lot of free time this next gap year and want to prepare myself as best as I can for being successful in clinical research when I (hopefully) enter school. Does anyone have any recommendations as to how I can best prepare for a transition to clinical research. Of note, I have no computer science background, but will definitely put in the time to learn biostats, etc. if needed.

Thanks
Definitely harder to perform research full time or to the extent you are now, but performing research in medical school is doable. If you're applying to MD schools only, Step 1 is pass fail and the whole purpose really of the 1st 2 years of medical school is Step 1. With Step 1 becoming pass/fail more of an emphasis will be on other things done in medical school, but who knows what those specific things are in the 1st 2 years. You may have to do better in your preclinical grades, but who knows. If you're applying DO, you may have to spend more time studying as COMLEX Level 1 is still graded (right now) and you have to dedicate a bit of time for a DO component of training, OMM :/, but this depends on how serious your school takes OMM.
But if you're currently a full time researcher, I doubt you'll be able to dedicate as much time as you do now to research in medical school. I'm a 4th year medical student performing research and I pretty much do part time research as full time is impossible on top of 7 am - 3 pm rotations, volunteering, doing relevant ECs for my specialty, and preparing for residency applications. Medical school still is a big commitment and is like a full time job more so in the 1st 2 years as you still have to study hard for exams, practicals, little things. But I bet you'd still be able to perform research in your 1st 2 years as many students still do research during that time. I would definitely try to continue research in medical school, but you're right it's still too premature to determine how you'd continue the research. You need to actually go to medical school and see how research would fit into your schedule. You'll know when you're a medical student.

The short answer is: yes, the question is how much time you can spend, but probably wouldn't be full time if you want to do spend the necessary time on actual medical school stuff.
 
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Hi, I've been a clinical research coordinator for two years at a well established grad school and I wanted to give you my two cents. 1) I will say no, it is too difficult unless you're very familiar with the subject area. Most likely the PI or Co-I have publications they've been working on. You can focus on projects but clinical research work is VERY time consuming contingent on the lab. The regulatory work that is approved and instilled into clinical research takes a lot of back and forth - months to even years to finalize- especially if it is part of a national/international consortium. You'll have to work with the local IRB and perhaps data coordinating site to come to an agreement to instill a new survey, per se. The medical students in my lab that we work with have defined projects and they've only worked during the summer for a few weeks at a time (and haven't been published from time constraints/ not enough data). 2) There is a lot of work. The work doesn't end depending on the disease or department area, there's just a LOT of data and EMR work you need to realize that has to go in. It's a bit tedious since you have to read through doctor's progress notes, surgical/pathology reports, request OSH records, etc. before you get a better picture of the data. 3) This could be true, it is ultimately up to the PI of the area and you to work with to propose a project. For example, there's a M3 that I replaced that is JUST working on their manuscript. It has not been submitted yet due to Medical School time constraints. My team has a biostatistician but honestly you just need basic statistics if you know what validity test you're looking for. I hope this helps you decide and to find a clinical research lab that can accommodate your prospective schedule!
 
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