CanMEDS scholars: A national survey on urology residents’ attitudes towards research during training

Abstract

Introduction: Participation in scholarly activity is an important tenet of residency training and is firmly entrenched in Canada since the introduction of CANMEDS roles by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. As Canadian residency programs transition to competency-based training, it will remain important to understand how to best implement and encourage scholarly pursuits among resident trainees. The objective of this study was to understand the experiences, attitudes, and barriers that surgical residents face when pursuing research during their training. Methods: An anonymous, cross-sectional, self-report questionnaire was administered to chief residents of all English-speaking urology programs in Canada in 2015. Questions were open-and closed-ended, including an agreement score based on a five-point Likert scale. Questions addressed residents' involvement in and attitudes towards research, as well as their perceptions of the utility of research involvement during training. The residents were also asked about the support they received and potential areas to improve the attainment of this competency. Descriptive and correlative statistics were used to analyze the responses. Results: There was a 100% overall response rate to the questionnaire. This study revealed that Canadian urology residents have a high rate of participation in scholarly work, with the vast majority (94%) publishing at least one manuscript with a mean of four papers. Despite this, there appeared to be significant variation in the respondent's experiences, including protected time for research. Furthermore, many residents appeared unconvinced of the importance of research involvement, with only 51% agreement that participation was important to their overall training. As well, a significant number of residents reported largely external, rather than internal, motivations for research participation, such as attaining a preferred fellowship (66% agreement). While the majority of respondents felt (66% agreement) that the scholar role was important in

Evaluation of a research methods course for clinical residents

“…Mentorship is an influential factor in a thriving research experience. 10,20,24,25 Prior studies have reported a lack of proper mentoring as a significant barrier for research. 4,8 Residents of TUOMS were less motivated to do research due to 1) mandatory research topics and 2) advisors/ mentors.…”

“…Time for research is crucial in clinical residency. 4,8,10,25,26 In the TUOMS research program, a protected one month period during the first year of residency was allocated to proposal writing, but program directors did not consider a similar protected time for research execution. Although one month of protected time helped residents complete proposals, it caused understaffed wards, scheduling difficulties, and residents missing some clinical experience.…”

A Systematic Scoping Review of Ethical Issues in Mentoring in Surgery

“…In total, 24 articles employed quantitative methods, 1,3,4,7,10,34,36,37,39,40,42,88-100 3 were qualitative, 101-103 5 used mixed methods, 9,38,45,104,105 8 were literature reviews, 2,8,11,18,31,35,106,107 5 were perspective papers, 6,30,32,33,43 3 were descriptive in nature, 41,44,108 and 2 were systematic reviews. 5,109 Nineteen studies in-volved mentees only, 3,4,32,36,40,42,45,88,90,92,94-96,98,99,…”

“…Lack of institutional support 1,3,8,10,11,18,[34][35][36][37]39,41,[90][91][92]95,97,98,104,[107][108][109] Poor access to trained mentors 1,4,5,18,[35][36][37][38][39]90,91,95,97,102,104,107,108 Poor access to same-sex mentors 1,2,5,7,9,11,18,31,35,36,40,91,100,105,…”

“…Provide students shadowing opportunities and chances to assist in operating rooms to broaden professional network 107 7. Social media can serve as a valuable tool to enhance networking of mentees in seeking mentorship 91 Lack of time [1][2][3][4][5][7][8][9]11,18,34,36,38,39,45,[88][89][90]97,98,103,104,108,109 Culture and sex differences 2,5,11,18,101 Generational gaps 5,11,18,42,98 Power differences inherent within surgical specialities 10,34,42 Personality conflicts 9,11,36,39,41,43,44,91,98,107 Overstepping boundaries 2,11,31,100 Table 5. Proposed solutions to ethical issue...…”