Starting research as an MS2...bad idea?

[DAKAZA]

I have absolutely no research experience as an undergrad or med student. I almost did something during the summer after 1st year but decided against it to rest. Anyway, I've been interested in orthopedic surgery lately and I'm getting the impression that I really need to become involved with some form of research.

So, I talked with one of my small group leaders who happens to be a clinical research director for an orthopaedic associates group. She told me that she can probably hook me up with some type of project if I attend one of their meetings in the next couple weeks.

I'm pretty excited but also worried about the time commitment. My coursework alone is extremely tough and I'm studying constantly, but not doing as well as I'd like. Also, I'm completely ignorant about research in general so I don't know what type of project would be best or anything. I also have no idea how many hours/week would be a reasonable amount to commit to. Any advice/feedback at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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[QofQuimica]

OP, research is important for competitive surgical subspecialties like ortho, but so is doing well in school, particularly scoring high on Step 1. We are now reaching November, and depending on when second year ends at your school, you are going to have to start thinking about preparing for Step 1 pretty soon. Because of Step 1, the second semester of second year is not a great time for anyone to start a new research project. But considering that you are already having trouble doing as well as you'd like to in school, I doubly recommend that you not take on this new project that will take further time away from your studies.

Even if you don't do research this year, you have some other options. For example, you could use some of your elective time to do research during the clinical years. You won't get a full randomized controlled trial done or anything, but you can still complete some retrospective studies or help with an ongoing project. If you're really serious about doing research, you could even take a fifth year. There are multiple fellowships available for med student research, although the year-long fellowships are very competitive. If you want to try applying for one, you will need to start thinking about doing it now, since their deadlines are coming up soon.

Best of luck.

 

[Ponger]

If time commitment is a big issue, you may want to start with something small/ less time consuming like a case report or literature review.

I'm also a 2nd year and was looking to build up the research aspect of my CV a few months ago. I decided that the time commitment for an original project was too much so I found an attending physician who had a backlog of case reports she wanted written up.

So I went in, reviewed the chart, reviewed the literature and read some similar case reports for writing style and ideas. I turned in my first rough draft to my attending last week and it should be ready for publication by the end of next month. All told, I probably spend 30-40 hours working on it over a few months.

Writing a case report is not much more complicated than a good patient note. As a 2nd year you should be able to handle it.