Research

[m_jacob_45]

Hey everyone,

Just looking for some advice from upper year med students/residents. I'm in my second year of medical school, and did research last summer (a summer studentship) that resulted in publication of an abstract in a good quality journal and a poster presentation at a national conference (and a travel grant). I'm currently potentially interested in either internal medicine or family medicine. I was wondering how important it is to do research over this summer? (I also have some research experience from undergrad- I volunteered in a lab in third year and did a thesis in 4th year which resulted in a poster presentation at a provincial-wide conference and a podium presentation at a local conference. Both conferences were done outside the thesis course i.e. not a course requirement). Also, if it's important, I'm first author on everything mentioned above. 

I would rather not devote this summer to research since it's my last "real" summer before clerkship and was instead thinking that I'd prefer to be involved in research in some capacity over my third year and take the summer off to travel (and maybe do a couple of electives). Also, if you have any advice for how to get involved with research during the school year next year, that would be great too (like should I just email doctors who's research work I'm interested in, and see what happens?)

Any advice/insight would be appreciated.

Thank you!!

[FailureToThrive]

You can do electives before clerkship?

[m_jacob_45]

4 minutes ago, MD_2021 said:

You can do electives before clerkship?

At my school we have pre-clerkship electives. They are for 10 hours (or more if desired) and are often observerships, depending on the specialty (though I have had some where the doc wants us to see the patient on our own first). 

[Lactic Folly]

It's probably not critical to do research this coming summer, if you're not applying to a research-intensive residency. Doing some electives sounds like a good idea.

I'm not sure what type of research you'd envision yourself doing during third year though. Clerkship doesn't offer the same amount of free time as pre-clerkship, and students often find it challenging to finish any project larger than a case report in a timely fashion.

[m_jacob_45]

1 hour ago, Lactic Folly said:

It's probably not critical to do research this coming summer, if you're not applying to a research-intensive residency. Doing some electives sounds like a good idea.

I'm not sure what type of research you'd envision yourself doing during third year though. Clerkship doesn't offer the same amount of free time as pre-clerkship, and students often find it challenging to finish any project larger than a case report in a timely fashion.

Thanks for your reply! Yes I'm not sure exactly what kind of research, but I was thinking something along the lines of a case report if something that would make a good case report comes up. Otherwise, I'm also interested in medical education, and was thinking I could possibly get involved with that in some way. 

[Lactic Folly]

I can see a motivated student doing a case report, especially something relevant to a specialty they would like to apply for. You could likely find a supervisor for that.

If you plan to approach supervisors for medical education research, you would need to be a bit more specific in terms of what you envision being able to accomplish during clerkship. I could see perhaps a very focused pre-test - intervention - post-test setup study, but you'd need to have that set up with the course directors well in advance.

Again, I suspect that most students who do any research during third year are likely continuing projects they have been involved in previously. When contacting potential supervisors, it would be helpful to articulate your estimate of the time you will be able to devote to research -- as the busier rotations barely allow enough time for sleep and self-care, and during the remaining hours you will probably wish to study for that rotation, start working on your CaRMS application, etc. Even if a student takes on a small chunk of work in a project, it is an investment of the supervisor's time and energy to email / mentor / meet / lay the groundwork for their participation, which may be dissipated if the student lets the project fall by the wayside for whatever reason (the busyness of clerkship and shifting priorities being primary factors).

[m_jacob_45]

On 3/2/2018 at 0:21 AM, Lactic Folly said:

I can see a motivated student doing a case report, especially something relevant to a specialty they would like to apply for. You could likely find a supervisor for that.

If you plan to approach supervisors for medical education research, you would need to be a bit more specific in terms of what you envision being able to accomplish during clerkship. I could see perhaps a very focused pre-test - intervention - post-test setup study, but you'd need to have that set up with the course directors well in advance.

Again, I suspect that most students who do any research during third year are likely continuing projects they have been involved in previously. When contacting potential supervisors, it would be helpful to articulate your estimate of the time you will be able to devote to research -- as the busier rotations barely allow enough time for sleep and self-care, and during the remaining hours you will probably wish to study for that rotation, start working on your CaRMS application, etc. Even if a student takes on a small chunk of work in a project, it is an investment of the supervisor's time and energy to email / mentor / meet / lay the groundwork for their participation, which may be dissipated if the student lets the project fall by the wayside for whatever reason (the busyness of clerkship and shifting priorities being primary factors).

Thanks so much!!