heme onc research during residency

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new2018

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for heme onc fellowship application, what kind of research do residents usually do at their spare time without taking time off, is it mostly retrospective cohort study or case control , or just case report?

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for heme onc fellowship application, what kind of research do residents usually do at their spare time without taking time off, is it mostly retrospective cohort study or case control , or just case report?
Usually what you described. I did bench stuff for a three month block
 
for heme onc fellowship application, what kind of research do residents usually do at their spare time without taking time off, is it mostly retrospective cohort study or case control , or just case report?

Disclaimer: There is not "right" answer to this and it really depends on your ability to balance research with your clinical responsibilities. ALSO, I don’t ever proofread texts/SDN posts/Facebook messages, so do not reply with constructive criticism concerning my grammar or spelling as I could give 2-10 ****s J

For me, I have always enjoyed/has a knack for medicine, so I was able to keep a constant flow of projects throughout residency (pgy-3, matched for H/O this year). However, I will say they I've had some colleagues who seem to be involved with some high-impact projects and I'm sure that will look great to the Ivory Towers come fellowship application time, BUT they suck as coworkers. I don't mean to sound snarky, but really for every weakness/short-coming you have during residency, the slack is invariably picked up by your co-residents, whether you realize it or not. So what I'm really trying to say is.... please know your limits and don't sink into denial about your multi tasking "abilities." If you can build databases, write reviews, apply for grants (unreality in residency in my opinion), spearhead the latest SWOG trail... AND still be on time and see your patients before for rounds, complete your progress notes, hail a decent sign out not to f**k over the night intern, do some procedure, show face at MR & noon conference, log those duty hours, teach med students, blah blah blah (I could list the innumerable tasks required at minimum) AND still get your publications on, then YES DO IT! But again, I see 1/3 of interns/residents learn the sexy tango that defines the aforementioned "balance", 1/3 dichotomize their time appropriately BUT start 5 projects they don't bring to fruition by ERAS application time (shows up surprising quickly), & 1/3 do or attempt meaningful research endeavors and piss off their co-interns, which gives us something to bitch about of Saturday night drinks.

So, the above likely didn't address your question, but I think these thoughts are not expressed as the reality to incoming interns, at least as bluntly as they should be. Thanks for suffering through my end of the day rant, NOW, to answer your initial inquiry. My productivity, with resultant pretty published work, came from keeping a few projects in motion at all times, as attendings will have their deadline months where edits will be returned to you at a snail’s pace, and you will have your ICU/CCU/Whatever you hate months that will make coming home to work on a manuscript feel like torture, and likely only contribute to burnout and a pissy attitude. So I met with my chosen mentor the first moth of residency to talk ideas. I started with a retrospective/clinical practice review, allowing me to delve into the literature and get familiar with a certain tumor site/disease. Once the first draft was sent to colleagues I would get started on another review. Then once I got friendly with other attendings, oncology bound co-residents and the fellows, i branched out to ongoing retrospective institutional projects (which can yielded conference abstracts/posters, manuscripts, and tons of future spin-off projects). Once your a pgy-2 its time to start being come the other side of delegation, i.e., find those eager, well balanced new interns desperate to help and have them finish your projects, help take your nicely built database and start the manuscript or pull new conference abstract ideas from it. One thing that is a high yield skill, which I am just getting acquainted with is knowing how to perform a meta analysis. It allows you to take a what would be literature review, which again is still a great project for residency as it has not timeline, can get a mid-upper tier journal pub and allows you to start learning the past/present/future practice of different tuor types, but with the know-how of a meta-analysis, you increase the impact of your manuscript (if done properly) and target a higher reader audience. Other things..... As a senior you are almost without question a designated co-author on all interns case reports from the wards, usually with minimal editing input. Maybe bc they are afraid it would be offensive not to include their min boss from something they likely micro managed most days. These are not ground breaking, usually, but hey fatten up that CV, more cushion for the pushin. Alright, there's probably more advice but I'm assuming if you're still reading this, you’re are praying this run on sentence that I'm reading as I go, while my wife gives rolls her eyes from the couch, will end.... so


-FIN
 
Stuff you could do by scouring the EMR is much easier than bench work given your residency schedule.
 
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