Resident research and scholarly activity in internal medicine residency training programs

Abstract

Internal medicine residents complete a variety of projects to fulfill the scholarly activity requirement. Nonuniversity programs are doing as much as university programs in meeting the requirement and supporting resident scholarship despite reporting significant barriers.

Scholarship Opportunities for Trainees and Clinician Educators: Learning Outcomes from a Case Report Writing Workshop

“…Academic advancement among clinician-educators is an important mission for academic medical centers. However, studies suggest that, compared to clinician-scientists, clinician-educators' academic rank is lower, promotion takes longer to achieve, and they are more likely to be in a nontenured track position 1 . The Society of General Internal Medicine and others provide detailed examples to document scholarship for promotion of clinician-educators 3,[27][28][29][30] .…”

“…Importantly, these barriers are more significant among nonuniversity-based programs. Trainees at non-university-based programs are less likely to publish in peer-reviewed journals as compared to trainees at university-based programs (5% vs. 10%) 1 . When compared with other study designs, case reports are relatively easy to complete, are inexpensive 25,26 , and do not require extensive training or infrastructure.…”

“…Residency program directors cite significant barriers for conducting scholarly activities; barriers include lack of faculty time, faculty mentors, funding, resident interest, and technical support 1 . Importantly, these barriers are more significant among nonuniversity-based programs.…”

“…Resident interest, faculty mentoring, and technical support are often lacking and are commonly cited as barriers 1 . Resources are available on how to write a case report [10][11][12] , but we are not aware of any formal training designed to improve such skills.…”

“…Presenting a case report at a meeting or publishing a case report in a peer-reviewed journal is, for residency programs, a way to demonstrate scholarly productivity 1 . The Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requires scholarship activity during training; the ACGME defines scholarly activity as "original research, comprehensive case reports, or review of clinical and research topics" 2 .…”