Very little EM research opportunities at my school

[strongboy2005]

I have been trying, unsuccessfully, for the last two months to e-mail, phone, or physically meet with an attending physician at my medical school who is the only one doing an EM project this summer that will take first year medical students. This physician is literally impossible to contact, has left me waiting for over an hour in the ED to meet with him (and then never showing up or answering his pager - which I then found out he wasn't even working the day I was told by the department head to meet with him), and has been described as an "absent-minded professor" by the other emergency physicians in the department.

Clearly this rant would not be constructive to direct towards anyone, and much of this post is just to get off my chest what has been a frustrating and demoralizing experience trying to get involved in research.

So, I have a few options. First, I could continue trying to engage this physician (who I already have a very poor opinion of). This sounds less and less appealing the more time I waste trying to meet with him. Second, I could pursue other research - I went to a research symposium today that outlined many other research projects that 1) guarantee you'll be published and 2) pay a $3000 scholarship. Finally, I could seek research opportunities at other emergency departments not affiliated with my school.

If I were to take the second option and do research in a non-emergency medicine field (say, research in plastic surgery or orthopedic surgery), could that be seen as a drawback in applying to emergency medicine? My fear is that PD's will see that research as a lack of early commitment to emergency medicine (which would be counter to one of my goals of trying to get involved early). If not, will the research be seen as beneficial? Please understand that I realize research is not some magic bullet, but that I'm genuinely interested in doing research. However, I don't want the research to be a drawback on my application or not considered a positive on my CV.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to get an EM mentor and my selection of resources at my school is scarce. Our EMIG group meets once per year. I seriously wish I could just do a "hostile takeover" of that group and get some more meetings and use it as a vehicle to provide some direction! With that being said, I have no idea what steps I can take to contact emergency physicians in my area who might want to do a research project or who already have one in the works that I could be involved with.

I realize that my frustration comes off pretty thick and I hope no one takes offense to this post, but I really am looking for a strong EM research experience so I can actually spend time in the ED, get aquainted with faculty, and try out research for the first time. Unfortunately, there seem to be so many blockades to being able to do this at my school that I am left wondering if it's even possible to have this experience.

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[RxnMan]

I have been trying, unsuccessfully, for the last two months to e-mail, phone, or physically meet with an attending physician at my medical school who is the only one doing an EM project this summer that will take first year medical students...

Let me start off with that, to a certain extent, I can empathize. I've tried to get involved in certain projects without success. I got frustrated too. But sometimes people don't gel or things just don't work out. Remember that your time is limited, so just drop it and focus on something that DOES work. It's not anything personal, and it is a pain, but it's not the end of the world by a long shot.

...Second, I could pursue other research - I went to a research symposium today that outlined many other research projects that 1) guarantee you'll be published and 2) pay a $3000 scholarship...If I were to take the second option and do research in a non-emergency medicine field (say, research in plastic surgery or orthopedic surgery), could that be seen as a drawback in applying to emergency medicine?...

I've been told here and elsewhere that research looks good, but many people match without it (See the 2007, 2009 NRMP data). I can tell you from my surveys (link in my sig) that number of publications has not been shown to help to a statistically significant degree. Note that neither source differentiates between different types residencies (e.g. community vs academic).

The deal you describe is pretty standard for a lot of medical students. It's a good instructive way to spend a summer and make some $$$.

...My fear is that PD's will see that research as a lack of early commitment to emergency medicine (which would be counter to one of my goals of trying to get involved early). If not, will the research be seen as beneficial? Please understand that I realize research is not some magic bullet, but that I'm genuinely interested in doing research. However, I don't want the research to be a drawback on my application or not considered a positive on my CV...

Take a look at my FAQ (link in my sig). It's written for med students interested in research. It'll answer some of your questions.

At this point in your career, you have 3 reasons/benefits for doing research:

1) Making the informed decision to do research throughout your career
2) Want to get more connected with someone in the department
3) Want to learn more about research / try it out

You're saying you're not likely to get #2, but there's still a ton to learn. From other things you wrote, you don't have the experience to really talk about #1, but #3 is valid for you, and that's specialty-independent. In addition, many of the skills related to research - critically appraising the literature, designing studies, technical writing, IRB experience - transfer to other areas of medicine and also specialty-independent.

...Unfortunately, I have not been able to get an EM mentor and my selection of resources at my school is scarce...

Check out the EMRA website. You can get electronic EM advisors there. Also, you can attend either a local or national association meeting. The SAEM meeting has a residency fair for med students.

 

[pratik7]

Since EM is a combination of any specialty , i think that you can do pretty much anything and make it EM relevent. cardiology come to mind....acute chest pain, cardiac arrest ect. If you have a good ICU attending you can do stuff on hypothermia protocols, goal directed therapy for sepsis, for ortho you can do a quick chart review on ortho injuries discharged from the ED and follow up outcomes. The list is endless. You can even ask around a find an interesting case and write it up. All you really need is a good mentor willing to you do what you want rather than pushing their own research on some transcription factor regulation on to you.