How do DO students get involved in research and publish?

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

thequackisreal

New Member
Joined
May 16, 2020
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
Can someone give me some insight from your experience? If the school doesn’t offer a lot of research opportunities, where does one look for research opportunities? How do you publish? How important is research for residencies?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Can someone give me some insight from your experience? If the school doesn’t offer a lot of research opportunities, where does one look for research opportunities? How do you publish? How important is research for residencies?

My school also does not have a lot of research opportunities, so I started cold emailing academic centers with my CV asking if they had any openings for a medical student in their research department. Sent a ton of them out, got one reply, pursued it heavily and got a summer research internship. Even if you don’t receive a specific internship, there is always a need for a zealous medical student to crunch numbers for a busy resident.

Publishing can be a tad tricky. I would recommend searching for a well-pubIished mentor in the field you desire and for the above-stated research opportunity So they can guide you throughout the publishing process.

I think research is a valuable addition to anyone’s CV pursuing any field, but there are plenty of people who match into the PC specialties without any research experience. As you get into the mid to high competitive specialties and highly desirable locations, research is an essential component. You’ll want to take a look at the charting outcomes and see how much research the average matched applicant is performing in your desired field:


I’m sure others will be able to add other pieces of advice but this is all I can think of for now. If you have any questions, feel free to PM.
 
Can someone give me some insight from your experience? If the school doesn’t offer a lot of research opportunities, where does one look for research opportunities? How do you publish? How important is research for residencies?
Dude who matched vascular at my school said his trick for 22 pubs was Stat Pearls. He said once you get a kind of template going it gets easier and easier to pump them out. Look into how Stat Pearls works. He also basically buddied up with people who had poster projects going and they would piggy back on each other’s work. He would end up having 3+ posters at once conference and many times the conference publishes the abstracts in their own book, which also counts as a pub. You basically just have to be a bit of a gunner, but it’s totally doable. My experience has been grind and find my own avenues. I have 2 anatomy pubs that I basically got by approaching my anatomy professor and telling him I wanted to do something about a unique anomaly in a cadaver. I also found a friend doing a big systematic review on antibiotic resistance and we got some posters out of that. Once you’re into 3rd year it’s even easier to crank out a few case reports, I’ve done 3 of those so far and they each took a total of 4-5 hours. Hardest part is getting the release forms signed, so figure out what your hospital and school requires and keep those handy on your rotations in case some cool comes up you can get them signed right away. Patients are almost always stoked to have their issue brought up for something academic, they’re just not good at following up with the forms.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
22 Peer reviewed pubs? Or 22 total outcomes?
I’m leaning toward total outcomes, but I can’t say for sure. He said at every interview his quantity of research came up and the question was “how did you find the time to accomplish this?” I think mainly because the majority of it was done during 3rd year.
 
Dude who matched vascular at my school said his trick for 22 pubs was Stat Pearls. He said once you get a kind of template going it gets easier and easier to pump them out. Look into how Stat Pearls works. He also basically buddied up with people who had poster projects going and they would piggy back on each other’s work. He would end up having 3+ posters at once conference and many times the conference publishes the abstracts in their own book, which also counts as a pub. You basically just have to be a bit of a gunner, but it’s totally doable. My experience has been grind and find my own avenues. I have 2 anatomy pubs that I basically got by approaching my anatomy professor and telling him I wanted to do something about a unique anomaly in a cadaver. I also found a friend doing a big systematic review on antibiotic resistance and we got some posters out of that. Once you’re into 3rd year it’s even easier to crank out a few case reports, I’ve done 3 of those so far and they each took a total of 4-5 hours. Hardest part is getting the release forms signed, so figure out what your hospital and school requires and keep those handy on your rotations in case some cool comes up you can get them signed right away. Patients are almost always stoked to have their issue brought up for something academic, they’re just not good at following up with the forms.

I was under the impression that Stat Pearls was looked down on and not considered "real research" by many PDs. Sounds like that wasn't the case at the places where your classmate interviewed.
 
I was under the impression that Stat Pearls was looked down on and not considered "real research" by many PDs. Sounds like that wasn't the case at the places where your classmate interviewed.
Yeah I’ve heard that too, but he said it’s good place to go and nobody gave him a hard time about that. He interviewed at all great places. He also had a lot of other good pubs though, definitely wasn’t a one trick pony. He co-authored a book chapter, couple other bigger things like that. I think his biggest thing was he did no actual research, like never went into a lab or anything like that. He also didn’t have to take time off for research anything like that.
 
Yeah I’ve heard that too, but he said it’s good place to go and nobody gave him a hard time about that. He interviewed at all great places. He also had a lot of other good pubs though, definitely wasn’t a one trick pony. He co-authored a book chapter, couple other bigger things like that. I think his biggest thing was he did no actual research, like never went into a lab or anything like that. He also didn’t have to take time off for research anything like that.
He did all that through StatPearls?
 
It depends on who you talk to and what specialty you are pursuing, but I wouldn't recommend aiming for StatsPearls. Even if it takes a few hours to write them, it definitely will look better to have 1-2 good quality publications that took a few months to produce rather than 5 that are mediocre. And it is not impossible to get a high number of publications in good quality journals if you really dedicate yourself to it. To find case reports, think of some doctors you want to ask either at your school or at places with a lot of research, and look them up on pubmed. If you aren't sure who to ask then find people in your field of interest and narrow down from there. If you see that someone published 10 times in 2020, 2019, etc. then send them a message. You want to find a PI that publishes often for a few reasons. 1. multiple projects will be available 2. more opportunities to lead your own/potential 1st author 3. if they don't do research often then it will take much longer to get things done and they wont be able to guide you as much.
 
It depends on who you talk to and what specialty you are pursuing, but I wouldn't recommend aiming for StatsPearls. Even if it takes a few hours to write them, it definitely will look better to have 1-2 good quality publications that took a few months to produce rather than 5 that are mediocre. And it is not impossible to get a high number of publications in good quality journals if you really dedicate yourself to it. To find case reports, think of some doctors you want to ask either at your school or at places with a lot of research, and look them up on pubmed. If you aren't sure who to ask then find people in your field of interest and narrow down from there. If you see that someone published 10 times in 2020, 2019, etc. then send them a message. You want to find a PI that publishes often for a few reasons. 1. multiple projects will be available 2. more opportunities to lead your own/potential 1st author 3. if they don't do research often then it will take much longer to get things done and they wont be able to guide you as much.
DO school isn’t exactly a place that gathers lots of researchers or doctors who do research. It also depends on the location of the school, if your school is in the middle of nowhere with only a few community clinics around it will not be feasible to look for research opportunities. It is quite hard to come by a doctor who meets your mentioned criteria unfortunately imo.
 
DO school isn’t exactly a place that gathers lots of researchers or doctors who do research. It also depends on the location of the school, if your school is in the middle of nowhere with only a few community clinics around it will not be feasible to look for research opportunities. It is quite hard to come by a doctor who meets your mentioned criteria unfortunately imo.

Thats why I said to find places that produce a lot of research 😉. It definitely doesn't have to be your own school if nothing is available. Reach out to academic programs, ideally with an attached residency as they will most likely have research that needs to get done. Find out who is productive and reach out. Explain why you are reaching out to someone outside of your school. A lot of case report writing, reviews, or even clinical studies can be done remotely depending on how they manage access to data. I personally had to do this because of your same reasons above and I eventually found someone. It takes time to get a response, or some might respond and not have anything available, but persistence will pay off. Another option if you have time is attend a conference or two in your field and connect with doctors/residents.
 
Thats why I said to find places that produce a lot of research 😉. It definitely doesn't have to be your own school if nothing is available. Reach out to academic programs, ideally with an attached residency as they will most likely have research that needs to get done. Find out who is productive and reach out. Explain why you are reaching out to someone outside of your school. A lot of case report writing, reviews, or even clinical studies can be done remotely depending on how they manage access to data. I personally had to do this because of your same reasons above and I eventually found someone. It takes time to get a response, or some might respond and not have anything available, but persistence will pay off. Another option if you have time is attend a conference or two in your field and connect with doctors/residents.
Ah I see you got involved in research with someone remotely. Are people usually agreeable to bring someone onboard who is located far away? Would you recommend doing this as soon as MS1?
 
Ah I see you got involved in research with someone remotely. Are people usually agreeable to bring someone onboard who is located far away? Would you recommend doing this as soon as MS1?

Unfortunately it is really variable. Depends on the willingness of the PI to manage someone remotely, and if their institution is okay with giving access to people remotely. I had a few people tell me they can't for data reasons, and 1 or 2 that said they reserve projects for their own students so there isn't any extra project at the moment. Just be polite and understanding. The right PI is out there for sure. MS1 is a good time for sure as long as you have your study methods down and are consistently doing okay in class. This way also allows you to offer to work with them in person over the summer if you are willing to travel.
 
Are there any specialties in particular that look down on StatPearls compared to others? I was going to try and get something going at the start of MS2 if possible...
 
Unfortunately it is really variable. Depends on the willingness of the PI to manage someone remotely, and if their institution is okay with giving access to people remotely. I had a few people tell me they can't for data reasons, and 1 or 2 that said they reserve projects for their own students so there isn't any extra project at the moment. Just be polite and understanding. The right PI is out there for sure. MS1 is a good time for sure as long as you have your study methods down and are consistently doing okay in class. This way also allows you to offer to work with them in person over the summer if you are willing to travel.
Thank you for the valuable insights, definitely worth trying as an incoming DO student like I am 🙂
 
Are there any specialties in particular that look down on StatPearls compared to others? I was going to try and get something going at the start of MS2 if possible...

Just making an assumption, but probably surgical subspecialties as I hear they care more about journal impact factor, so they should be aware of Stats Pearls, Cureus, etc. Stats Pearls probably wont raise many eyebrows in specialties where attendings don't do much research.
 
Are there any specialties in particular that look down on StatPearls compared to others? I was going to try and get something going at the start of MS2 if possible...

Like mentioned above, surgical sub-specialties or programs at strong academic institutions aren't going to be too impressed. There's nothing wrong with having a couple, especially if you're in a super remote area and have limited access to research but I wouldn't make publications from it the bulk of your total publications. I would use this summer to network and reach out to programs in your desired field to see if there are any opportunities for you there before heading to StatPearls.
 
There are MANY other options to publish that are better than statpearls. The key is to find a mentor that is savvy with the publication process

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SDN mobile
 
Top