Rapid exponential increase in neurosurgery departmental scholarly output following an intensive research initiative

Abstract

There has been extensive research into methods of increasing academic departmental scholarly activity (DSA) through targeted interventions. Residency programmes are responsible for ensuring sufficient scholarly opportunities for residents. We sought to discover the outcomes of an intensive research initiative (IRI) on DSA in our department in a short-time interval. IRI was implemented, consisting of multiple interventions, to rapidly produce an increase in DSA through resident/medical student faculty engagement. We compare pre-IRI (8 years) and post-IRI (2 years) research products (RP), defined as the sum of oral presentations and publications, to evaluate the IRI. The study was performed in 2020. The IRI resulted in an exponential increase in DSA with an annual RP increase of 350% from 2017 (3 RP) to 2018 (14 RP), with another 92% from 2018 (14 RP) to 2019 (27 RP). RP/year exponentially increased from 2.1/year to 10.5/year for residents and 0.5/year to 10/year for medical students, resulting in a 400% and 1900% increase in RP/year, respectively. The common methods in literature to increase DSA included instituting protected research time (23.8%) and research curriculum (21.5%). We share our department’s increase in DSA over a short 2-year period after implementing our IRI. Our goal in reporting our experience is to provide an example for departments that need to rapidly increase their DSA. By reporting the shortest time interval to achieve exponential DSA growth, we hope this example can support programmes in petitioning hospitals and medical colleges for academic support resources.

Rapid increase in departmental scholarly activity independent of residents demonstrates reproducibility and success of intensive research initiative in neurosurgery department

“…Our IRI resulted in a 350% increase in medical student and 4900% increase in PRF scholarly activity and this is the most rapid report of successful exponential departmental scholarly activity growth reported in the literature to date. 7 Though long-term IRI follow-up is warranted, we show our research initiative has now been effective and reproducible in two different institutions, both with, and without, a neurological surgery residency training program. Institutions committed to successful medical student mentorship must find ways to get students opportunities for rich academic productivity and the IRI can provide a framework for motivated faculty and learners to rapidly increase departmental scholarly activity.…”

“…We previously reported our 2-year intensive research initiative (IRI) experience that rapidly increased departmental scholarly activity within a neurological surgery residency training program by focusing on resident and medical student mentorship. 7 That study demonstrated how departments could rapidly obtain exponential increases in their departmental scholarly activity, satisfying the residency requirement of providing an environment of scholarly activity and research. There were no previous guidelines, so we summarized the limited literature from other specialties, and shared our IRI experience to offer a possible solution for departments that needed rapid increases in academic productivity.…”

“…These current results validate our prior study, which showed that IRI implementation can rapidly produce an exponential increase in departmental scholarly activity at an astonishing rate not previously reported in the literature. 7 This rapid exponential growth in departmental scholarly activity at UNM was foundational to our successful neurological surgery residency application.…”

“…Implementation of our IRI allows for early faculty and resident mentorship and provides more flexibility than summer or research fellowship programs, as it allows medical students at varying stages to participate in research with no set time frame. 7 Similarly, our IRI allows continuous medical student involvement in departmental scholarly activity, thereby providing consistent research projects for medical students while integrating them into the department. We hope this IRI can provide a blueprint for any academic department that is looking to increase departmental scholarly activity and provide more opportunities for medical students to perform research, in particular with the emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion, all academic departments should take note of the rapid exponential departmental scholarly activity programs can achieve with medical students alone serving as primary authors.…”

“…We previously reported our 2-year intensive research initiative (IRI) experience at New York Medical College (NYMC), which aimed to rapidly increase departmental scholarly activity within a neurological surgery department with a residency training program by focusing on resident and medical student mentorship. 7 That study demonstrated how rapidly programs could exponentially increase their departmental scholarly activity to fulfill the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core requirement of providing an environment of scholarly activity and research. There were no previous specific guidelines or recommendations for rapidly increasing departmental scholarly activity in order to comply with this ACGME core requirement, so we summarized the limited literature and shared our experience with the IRI as a possible solution for programs that needed rapid academic turnaround.…”