MS1 with research/residency question

[blastokine]

As the title states, I'm a current MS1 and am interested by many different specialties. This Summer I'll be conducting public health research. My question is, how important is it for your research experiences to be in the same field as what you want to specialize/do residency in?

For example lets say I want to do neurosurgery by the time I'm applying for residency. Would the neurosurgery residency programs even consider the publications/posters/presentations that I will get from my public health research this Summer?

Thanks in advance.

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[DrStephenStrange]

All types of research are good as it shows that you at least have a decent understanding of what a basic scientific research entails. Research in the specific field is not always necessary, but it will help connect your interest better with residency program directors. It will show that you have at least made the effort to learn more and advance the specific field.

 

[slowthai]

I have to be honest, research in the specific field is 100% necessary if you're gunning for something highly competitive like neurosurg. Your public health research won't hurt, because all research is good, but not having neurosurgery specific research will hurt you. It's like not even a question, lol. Neurosurg is so hardcore about research. It's an extremely academic field. Not to mention, every serious neurosurgery applicant will have neurosurg research.

For other fields like IM or family medicine, I don't think they care, unless you're trying to match into top/academic programs.

This does mean that it is in fact better to figure out what field you want ASAP, because the earlier you know, the more time you will have to pump out field-specific pubs.

 

[longhaul3]

Out of all the specialties, neurosurgery is the most focused on research as far as I'm aware, and it really should be in neurosurgery or spinnable into neurosurgery. Public health will not turn heads unless it's some groundbreaking work on social determinants of gliomas or something. That said, a huge amount of what neurosurgery applicants put on their CVs is total garbage, but it has a neurosurgeon's name attached to it.

In other specialties you may get a little more traction.

 

[slowthai]

Out of all the specialties, neurosurgery is the most focused on research as far as I'm aware, and it really should be in neurosurgery or spinnable into neurosurgery. Public health will not turn heads unless it's some groundbreaking work on social determinants of gliomas or something. That said, a huge amount of what neurosurgery applicants put on their CVs is total garbage, but it has a neurosurgeon's name attached to it.

In other specialties you may get a little more traction.

This made me laugh, lol. The majority of med student research is complete garbage, but it's the game we play. CV-lining is the order of the day.

 

[dogbert2234]

In case neurosurg was just a random choice in your original post, derm is also notorious for wanting publications relevant to the field. General rule: the more competitive the specialty, the more important it is to have research relevant to the field.

 

[deleted600623]

Same with Ortho. Caveat though, if you decide to boost your CV by piggybacking off of a ton of publications that you edited the grammar for instead of actually being a decent part of the actual projects, you better know every detail of those pubs or else you're going to look like an absolute idiot. PDs aren't stupid.

 

[blastokine]

In case neurosurg was just a random choice in your original post, derm is also notorious for wanting publications relevant to the field. General rule: the more competitive the specialty, the more important it is to have research relevant to the field.

It was not random. I do have an interest in that field. I’m also interested in public health, but now I’m not sure if I regret committing to this current project. Covid19 messed up my original plans, and my school isn’t heavy in neurosurgery research either. Maybe I can find neuro research for after the Summer. If it really comes to it, I wouldn’t mind taking a research year.

 

[aldol16]

It's possible to do neurosurgery research in public health. But if you already have a project, then you probably shouldn't abandon it. For uber competitive specialties, field-specific research > non-field research >>>> no research.

 

[deleted688779]

This made me laugh, lol. The majority of med student research is complete garbage, but it's the game we play. CV-lining is the order of the day.

Honest question: how do you get garbage past certain quality checkpoints? PI, reviewers, etc. Do you just settle for a no-name journal and would that be acceptable for specialties like neurosurgery, plastics, derm, etc?

Trying to learn the game. What’s the strat for pumping out pubs like a firehose?

 

[slowthai]

Honest question: how do you get garbage past certain quality checkpoints? PI, reviewers, etc. Do you just settle for a no-name journal and would that be acceptable for specialties like neurosurgery, plastics, derm, etc?

Trying to learn the game. What’s the strat for pumping out pubs like a firehose?

I'm saying that most of what we put out is garbage, lol. Like study design and statistical analysis are just low quality, on average. If I presented my work to a group of PhD students, I'd likely get laughed out of the room.

If you're trying to get a pub in the quickest manner possible, yes, consider submitting a case report to a no name journal in your specialty of choice. But that kind of pub should really be the minority of your work, because programs will see through that pumping and dumping strategy immediately.

You want to get with a PI that's very productive. They usually have many projects going at once/waiting to be started. They probably have a pre-made template for all of these projects and they just need a willing soul (you) to do all the dirty work. You want to avoid bigger projects that take time like systematic reviews, prospective studies, RCTs, etc. Or if you do them, focus on quicker stuff like retrospective studies, comparative studies, chart reviews, etc and work on those bigger projects at the same time. That way you'll get high output along with street cred, lol. Like "Look at this multicenter RCT, Fruitjuice is a burgeoning scientist!"

 

[slowthai]

It was not random. I do have an interest in that field. I’m also interested in public health, but now I’m not sure if I regret committing to this current project. Covid19 messed up my original plans, and my school isn’t heavy in neurosurgery research either. Maybe I can find neuro research for after the Summer. If it really comes to it, I wouldn’t mind taking a research year.

It's possible to do neurosurgery research in public health. But if you already have a project, then you probably shouldn't abandon it. For uber competitive specialties, field-specific research > non-field research >>>> no research.

I agree. A pub is a pub. Also, I think it would be good to stick with this project now, even if it's irrelevant because what you learn through doing this project (the process, research skills, etc) will help you on other projects, especially if you've never done research before. Also, you can try to hop on an ongoing neurosurg project even right now. Research doesn't stop for anything, lol.

 

[Frogger27]

If you want to pump out a quick line on your CV, letter to the editors are the easiest. You do have to know the literature decent and pay attention to recent publications, but most of these have a high acceptance rate and are pubmed indexed

 

[Dave1980]

Research should ideally be in the field you want to go into. A neurosurgery program won't give you much credit for a public health article.

 

[slowthai]

If you want to pump out a quick line on your CV, letter to the editors are the easiest. You do have to know the literature decent and pay attention to recent publications, but most of these have a high acceptance rate and are pubmed indexed

Totally agree haha. Just didn't want to drop the bar too too low lol

 

[aldol16]

If you want to pump out a quick line on your CV, letter to the editors are the easiest. You do have to know the literature decent and pay attention to recent publications, but most of these have a high acceptance rate and are pubmed indexed

Uhhh that'll depend on the journal. Larger, high-impact journals will publish fewer and have more submissions so obviously that drives the rate down. I mean, you could always write a letter criticizing a paper's statistical analysis in lower impact journals. Usually you can find a couple things wrong with what they did. While that would inflate your publication list, it doesn't replace the value of a publication. If that's all you have, you'll have difficulty going into a competitive field because that's not original research and people can tell pretty quick if that's all (or next to all) you have.

 

[dogbert2234]

It was not random. I do have an interest in that field. I’m also interested in public health, but now I’m not sure if I regret committing to this current project. Covid19 messed up my original plans, and my school isn’t heavy in neurosurgery research either. Maybe I can find neuro research for after the Summer. If it really comes to it, I wouldn’t mind taking a research year.

Yeah for what it's worth, I am trying to get in on some research projects right now as well and it's incredible how many PIs I've spoken with are basically just holding all research activities for the time being. Hopefully things get back to normal soon, but I imagine a lot of people may be experiencing the same problem

 

[longhaul3]

Yeah for what it's worth, I am trying to get in on some research projects right now as well and it's incredible how many PIs I've spoken with are basically just holding all research activities for the time being. Hopefully things get back to normal soon, but I imagine a lot of people may be experiencing the same problem

If you know any residents in your field of interest, try reaching out to them, especially if you already have the PI's blessing to be involved in his/her lab (caveat: not recommended for IM or any of the primary covid fields). In the research-heavy surgical subspecialties, there is not a whole lot going on right now clinically and so there is definitely research being done. I'm working on a few different projects myself that just got off the ground in the last week or so. On top of that, if/when the residents get "redistributed," you can still be moving their work along while they get wrecked in the ICU. This would be greatly appreciated.

Obviously it's different when you're already part of the program and are implicitly trusted with the work, but if you have a good relationship with the residents you may be able to take some work off their plates. I know if I had an eager, interested med student asking to do half of my work I would be happy to spread the love.