Association of a Biweekly Research Workgroup With Enhanced Resident Research Productivity

Abstract

Almost all residency programs require a resident research project, yet teaching and mentoring of the required skills are often lacking. We established an every-other-week gynecologic oncology research workgroup at our institution for obstetrics and gynecology faculty, fellows, and residents with the goal of increasing resident research education, involvement, and productivity. An informal, discussion-style format was adopted as a forum for brainstorming research ideas, formulating study protocols, and collaborating on institutional review board submissions. Additional aims included editorial feedback on abstracts and manuscripts as well as oral presentation preparation. The academic productivity of trainees mentored by the gynecologic oncology division was queried for 27 months before and 27 months after workgroup initiation, specifically assessing resident involvement in institutional review board submission, abstract presentation, and manuscript preparation. Institution of our workgroup was associated with a dramatic increase in resident research output, including manuscript preparation and presentations at national meetings. We describe our experience because it may benefit other residency programs wishing to improve both resident research education and productivity.

Graduate medical education scholarly activities initiatives: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…The remaining locations, Germany [32] and India [26] had 1 (3%) article each. The disciplines studied were internal medicine (7, 22%), [18, 25, 27, 28, 32, 41, 42] orthopedic surgery (6, 19%), [29, 30, 33, 34, 38, 46] general surgery (5, 16%) [21–23, 31, 36], pediatrics (3, 9%) [3, 7, 40], family medicine (3, 9%) [17, 24, 45], neurology (2, 6%) [26, 39] and obstetrics and gynecology (2, 6%), [19, 37] with otolaryngology [20], gastroenterology [35], anesthesiology [43], and pulmonary critical care [44] each in one article. Nineteen (19/32, 59%) studies reported sample sizes (number of participants) [3, 7, 17, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32–36, 38–40, 43, 46] ranging from 25 [17] to 527 [7], with 10/19 (53%) having sample sizes less than 100 [17, 21, 25, 27, 32, 34, 35, 38, 40, 46].…”

“…In addition they implemented monthly research forums and mentor meetings to discuss research related issues. Particular emphasis was given to projects that could be completed within a 1-month period and result in publication.Yes (Research elective: 1 month in PGY1 and PGY3 or up to 2 months in PGY2)Yes (faculty)Increase in scholarly activity from 2010 to 2011 to 2011–2012 by 110%.• 6 submissions with 2 abstracts accepted for presentation at the Louisiana Chapter of the American College of Physicians Associates meeting (2010–2011) compared to 14 submissions, with 4 accepted for presentation (2011–2012)• 4 submissions to the Southern Hospitalist Conference (2010–2011), which increased to 7 (2011–2012), with one receiving second place in the competitionN/A10Brackmann, et al, 2016 [19]Michigan, USAPre-post study using historical data as a comparison groupComparison group (27 months before) vs. (27 months after) workgroup discussionsBiweekly, voluntary (1–2 h) gynecologic oncology research workgroup. An informal, discussion-style format for brainstorming research ideas, formulating study protocols, and collaborating on institutional review board submissions.…”

“…The majority of studies provided residents with mentors (28/32, 88%) [3, 17–19, 22–29, 31–46]. Over half incorporated protected time (19/32; 59%) [18–22, 24–30, 33, 35, 38, 40–43] However, protected time differed between residencies and ranged from a 2 week rotation [25] to a 1 year research elective.…”

“…Over half incorporated protected time (19/32; 59%) [18–22, 24–30, 33, 35, 38, 40–43] However, protected time differed between residencies and ranged from a 2 week rotation [25] to a 1 year research elective. [21, 33] Fifty-six percent included a mandatory initiative (18/32), such as required attendance [18, 22], participation [3, 21, 23, 24, 26, 30, 32], or completion of a project [17, 19, 25, 27, 36, 40, 42, 44, 45]. Journal clubs were described in 41% (13/32) of studies [3, 18, 24, 25, 27, 31, 38–44] and 31% (10/32) provided assistance or guidance on grant writing and/or application.…”

Establishing an academic niche in cardiothoracic surgery: The earlier the better

“…Indeed, collaborative trainee research programs with biweekly group research meetings have resulted in increased resident research productivity. 4 A supportive mentored research environment for trainees and early faculty should not be limited to interactions with other faculty/staff within cardiothoracic surgery. Research training, especially techniques to succeed in today's highpressure research environment, are unfortunately not part of standard curricula in medical school or residency.…”