research vs. publications for residency

[justpremed]

i know research is important, as are publications, but what are the relative weights of the two? i've found that it's not that difficult to make time to do research, but publishing feels like a completely different story that often depends more on your PI than on yourself.

i was just wondering how important it is to do research that results in a publication in a high impact journal vs. just doing research and either presenting it or not publishing it.

i know that it's incredibly important for fields like ROAD, but what about some of the less competitive fields like medicine, OB/GYN, pedes, med-pedes?

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[sanjoe10]

On that note, what kind of weight do pubs from undergrad/highschool carry?

 

[cpants]

You had pubs in high school?

Research is good. Pubs carry significantly more weight, for two reasons. First, actually getting something published in a journal or presented at a national meeting requires significantly more effort and shows more commitment to the research. Second, the residency you want is usually at an academic institution. The docs for which you will work need to publish for prestige and to maintain their academic appointments. They love candidates who have shown they can publish, because guess whose names will end up on your publications in residency?

Publication is not out of reach during medical school by any means. You need to do your homework and find a PI who publishes a lot. Bench research publications are hard accomplish in medical school, but are more impressive for that reason. It isn't that hard at all to publish something clinical however. Find or think of a project which will involve reviewing a couple of hundred charts and looking at a certain outcome. This kind of thing can easily be accomplished in a semester during your spare time.

Publication is definitely more important for the more competitive fields, but it's also important for the less competitive fields at the more competitive places. If you are OK with doing your OB or peds residency at an average academic or community program, I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you are gunning for MGH, then research can only help you.