need advice

[SkylineMD]

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Just a summary of my situation prior to my question:

I have been working in the neurology department this past summer and it has been a great experience for me. Currently, my field of interest is Emergency Medicine but its still early for me to decide. I have spoken to a residency director at my school for one of the programs and he stated that though its best to do research in the field you want to go into, its not necessary. When I had heard that, I found a position in the neurology department because I heard that they can help you get published.

Right now I have been able to get onto about 4 of their abstracts through the work that I have done and have been promised that as long as I continue my work with them, I could probably get onto at least 2 publications. I am not sure whether I will get to be first author since the PI I am working with will probably take that spot but hopefully second author on one of those publications.

I know that publications look better on your CV but I was wondering whether I should include all these abstracts that I will be working on? How good does having a bunch of abstracts look when applying for residency? (or does it just not matter since its only an abstract?).

My work will continue into the year and one of the PI's that I work for suggested helping him with writing a chapter in a book that he has been asked to write regarding a various neurological condition along with another project. It just seems that my likelihood of getting a bunch of abstracts is much higher than publications and I don't know if flooding my CV with all these abstracts will make it look like I haven't done anything significant. Any advice on how residency programs will view this?

I tried searching regarding this but couldn't find anything pertaining to this question so please, no "use the search" responses.

Thanks

 

[Blade28]

Quick question - where are you in your medical training?

 

[cchoukal]

I had a bunch of national presentations and UNpublished manuscripts on my applications and, even when I clearly pointed out that these were UNpublished, interviewers often claimed to be "impressed by [my] dedication to research..." I'd include the abstracts.

 

[SkylineMD]

thanks for the advice cchoukal

I am currently an MS1. I just thought I should try to do my research ahead of time and this way I can focus on 2nd year which will be much more difficult. I know that research during the summer can be done but everyone does it and most people only get an abstract out of it so i wanted to just do it during the year and get the most mileage out of the work

 

[Hawk22]

SkylineMD,
I think you should definitely put the abstracts in your CV. I'm impressed that you've gotten that many abstracts done at this point, since you're just a MS I. Don't diminish your work by saying you "only" have an abstract (many a well-planned research project doesn't make it that far). Taking a project to the abstract state still requires ALOT of effort and I'm sure you have many useful skills and experiences from your work there. Those things should be recognized and acknowledged in your CV....your work thus far has definitely earned that right.
Also remember that it takes a long time to go from project to publication, so the fact that you have two and half more years before you apply means that many of these projects could very well be published by the time you are interviewing for residency. Sounds like strong work so far......

 

[SkylineMD]

Thanks for the vote of confidence Hawk.

It just seemed to me that some of these abstracts will probably not go anywhere. I had gone to speak to one of the doctors about what needed to be done since his abstracts are done and he said he was thinking of other projects and it seemed as if the project I was working on was done. Maybe it's just a part of the bigger picture that I don't know about so it seems a bit odd that the study is ending just so abruptly. Also, the department that I work for usually ends up combining some of their independent papers to get a big one in which case all the higher ups would end up getting 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and probably 4th authors. Let's say that I am a 6th author, how does that look?

 

[Hawk22]

Abstracts on a resume are great. Published papers are even better. Published papers as a first author are obviosuly the best.

Those things said, I still think that you're sitting pretty right now with the abstracts. If any are published and your name is on the paper at all (even 6th or 7th author), its still a bonus for you. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but do ask your PI if there is anything that you could do to publish the paper or if any more work is required to make it publishable. You never know what he/she may say.....