What to look for when finding research?

[Morc]

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Incoming M1 - I was accepted to a program that funds research for the summer before and after M1. I have no idea what field I'd want to pursue for residency training yet, and was hoping to go in with an open mind. But it seems as though finding research in a field such as derm/ortho would demand research in that field. Since I did a lot of work with EMS in undergrad, I'm interested in EM research a little bit more. Basically just want something that is clinically-related as opposed to straight bench research.

Would it be better to look for research in a field that is more competitive, to "keep doors open" while I decide on a specialty?

Any other things to look for? Based on prior research experiences, finding the right mentor is big. Probably a project that already has IRB approval. Anything else? Thanks for your time!

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

The best research is productive research or research which builds useful connections.

As I have come to understand it PDs care a lot more about the skillset (identifying publishable projects, work ethic to get the data together, stats knowledge to analyze, and literacy to write up) than they do the specific topic being investigated.

Sure, some fields like NeuroSurg, Ortho, Derm, have field preferences but that' the way it is, and you likely already knew that.

Also...diety of your choice bless you for filling out 27 secondaries. Holy cow.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Research will never hurt you, no matter the field. If you want to do EM, any research will do considering EM is a jack-of-all-trades specialty: surgery, psych, medicine, pulm/crit, trauma, etc.

Summer research before and after M1 year (~6months) is not a lot of time. I would focus your efforts on any research that will get published. Clinical research is probably going to be your best bet. Retrospective chart review is almost always IRB exempt, meaning you submit the IRB and they exempt it after a week or so.

You could do prospective if the study spanned during your entire M1 year, but IRB approval can be long here. Only do this if your research question is publishable no matter the outcome, and have a mentor well-versed in the research topic who can guide you.

Bench research (even though you said you may not want to) is likely off the table unless you jump onto a project on the cusp of finishing all data gathering.

 

[Chelsea FC]

Personally I found a great mentor who does research for M1 is a little better than the workhorses that dont have time for you. Because your intrest will change over time and that person will be an ally every step of the way.

 

[mistafab]

Priority list for starting research (sorted by importance):
1. Get a good mentor
2. Make sure you did #1
3. Be productive
4. Be in the field you want
5. Be on the topic you want

 

[Shirafune]

Priority list for starting research (sorted by importance):
1. Get a good mentor
2. Make sure you did #1
3. Be productive
4. Be in the field you want
5. Be on the topic you want

I cannot emphasize how important #1 is. Your experience is going to depend so much on how much your mentor actually cares about your progress and development. Pick a few fields you might have some interest in and ask your upperclassmen who they have had a good time working with. Who are the people that are going to fight for you and get you where you want to go?

For students that like research, I always recommend 1 large project (prospective pilot studies, large retrospectives) you can get done over the course of all of med school and several smaller projects to be done here and there (think small retrospectives, case reports, review papers). For those that just want to gain some skills and get their feet wet, one retrospective study is good enough.

 

[mvenus929]

I'm going to reemphasize the importance of a good mentor.

I did a case report in M4--wrote the whole thing start to finish, including the literature review. Learned a ton, but never got it published because the attending I was working with didn't care to help me.

I did a complete study during residency--prospective observational study. I did the IRB, patient enrollment, and data collection all on my own, in between my clinical obligations (I was given my research month while still waiting for final approval for everything, so I couldn't actually enroll any patients during that time, which was super annoying). Got help with data analysis, and then wrote the manuscript. My mentor came up with the idea (but not the protocol), and then basically Okayed everything and gave some feedback here and there. If I wasn't annoyingly persistent, the project would have never been done.

Now in fellowship, I have a mentor who is super smart and very involved in my area of interest--but doesn't do well with follow-through. I joined a project with another fellow last year, and that fellow has now been an attending for almost a year and we still don't have a manuscript accepted (we submitted once and have been working on revisions since January). My project with her is currently stalled because she keeps changing her mind on what data analysis I should do.

I'm also working on an additional project with a separate mentor that I'm actively getting feedback on, and will likely lead to two publications for the medical student working with me (my project and a side project that she did the data collection on). This project is going so much more smoothly than the other three.

The mentor makes all the difference.

 

[Morc]

I can definitely understand the importance of a good mentor. Would it just be a "feel it out" type thing by cold-emailing faculty on the database that I've been given?

 

[DameJulie]

Concurring with above posts, #1 is very important.

 

[vkarp]

Follow up question: How to find a good mentor? Especially at a DO school

 

[Shirafune]

I can definitely understand the importance of a good mentor. Would it just be a "feel it out" type thing by cold-emailing faculty on the database that I've been given?

Speak with your upperclassmen once school starts. I don't think people should start getting into research until they've settled in for a few months at least. That being said, the faculty that respond to student emails quickly and are flexible with scheduling meetings are probably your best bets. Also doesn't hurt to look at their Pubmed and see how frequently they publish with students.

 

[throwaway1000000]

honestly a mentor is everything. but also hard to know who is a good one especially if you are still a med student who has no idea how research works.
find someone who is very easy to talk to. someone who is very interested in publishing. someone who talks in clear, direct terms (idk how to define this) but you will know once you talk to a few who wants to publish and who doesn't