research elective vs clinical elective ?!

[oreosandsake]

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I am very interested in spinal cord injury medicine, and I plan on having a future in academic physiatry.

recently I was reading some papers wrote by John McDonald MD, PhD from Johns Hopkins and they got me very excited regarding the future for patients with spinal cord injury.

So, I am considering committing 6-8 weeks during my 4th year to do a research rotation, but am not sure what I will truly get out of this.

I have participated in research in the past, and realize how difficult it is to get up to speed, and be productive in such a short time-frame.

additionally, I have noticed that in "high power" research labs, volunteers from the outside may find that no one has time to direct them, and you possibly never meet the PI.

so, should I bother with the research elective at all?

Also to bear in mind, if this is then classified as a PMR elective, I will only be able to do one other pmr month.

 

[MSKalltheway]

Could you do both?

The reason I ask is because I have a mentor over at Hopkins who just finished her PhD and is very into research. She seemed like she had ideas for studies floating around all over the place, and seemed cool about me jumping on a project with her at any point. I figure that if you were able to devote 6-8 weeks, maybe with the right arrangements you could do both? Or maybe research but also hit clinic with them a few days a week if possible.

I realize that may require more flexibility on the program's part than usual, but I think that would be pretty sweet if possible.

EDIT: I only use Hopkins as an example since we dont have a department here at Murlind. I guess you can take my post as, "See if (insert research heavy school here) will be flexible and let you do something over a longer period than just 1 month".

 

[PMR 4 MSK]

We were forced to do a research project our 4th year (MCW). Mine took several months. Some people did a chart review that took them 3-4 days. At least mine got published, sort of - VA internet journal.

Maybe try and get involved in research after-hours, on a longer-term, but less hours/day project.

 

[SSdoc33]

although hopkins is a big name in the medical world in general, it is not a big name in the physiatry world. hopkins is not considered one of the top-tier programs, so a LOR or time spent there may not have as much influence as you may think. also, having done a research elective as a med student, id be surprised if you could get anything accomplished in a month. it would get your feet wet with the research process, and if that is where your interest lies, then more power to you. if you have good supervisors/mentor who would be able to spend some 1-on-1 time with you, then it may be more worthwhile.

 

[axm397]

can you continue research you did at RIC as extern?

 

[oreosandsake]

it isn't where he's at that draws me but rather the things that he is doing that I find very exciting.

I posted his name on this forum in hopes that someone might actually be familiar with the lab, and know how a research elective would work out.

AXM, I would love to go back to RIC but at the cost of $1000 per elective, and the living costs in chicago, I think even my original plans of doing a clinical rotation there are unlikely at this point.