Master's degrees

[Guest leviathan]

As a backup, I'd be interested in doing research in emergency medicine. Does anyone know of a possible way to do this at the graduate student level?

[Guest transplant]

You could pursue a Masters in epidemiology or health services research. I know a paramedic who took this route.

[Guest leviathan]

Hmm, can you give me an example of what types of things s/he researched? I'm interested into doing things like evaluating certain protocols and how sensitive/specific they are for ruling out + diagnosing conditions. For example, looking at the Canadian C-Spine Rule or the Head CT protocol for clinically deciding whether someone needs radiology.

[Guest transplant]

Hi leviathan,

 

I think he looked at protocols for paramedic services i.e. before reaching the E.D. .... but I confess it's been a while since I talked to him so my memory is a little foggy. But more importantly, the topics you mention are a perfect fit for a clinical epi. study. It sounds like you already know something about epi (?) judging by your reference to sensitivity/specificity.

 

transplant

[Guest Kels2004]

Hey there,

 

Depending on your background, you could just be able to start in the area by working as research assistant before you comitt to the MSc (that's what I did, and I found it useful because it gave me exposure to a few projects and supervisors before deciding on one, and - you tend to be paid a lot better as a researcher than as a grad student!:rollin )

 

I worked on a trauma project in Calgary... we were evaluating a tool that triaged rural trauma patients into 1 of 3 transport mechanisms (plane, heli, ground) to get them back to the tertiary trauma centre. It was an interesting project, and I know there are lots of emerg projects in Calgary - They were doing a C spine study last year as well. I am not so familiar with Vancouver, but if you search around the UBC epi department, you will likely find MDs people with appointments -check out their interest to see whose an emerg doc and what type of research they are doing.

Gotta run - hope this helps!

kels

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

While I was at Vancouver General for my recent elective I spent a fair number of hours in the ER. If you nip down to the ER Department and have a look in the halls outside of the ER (near the "Treatment Area" as opposed to "Acute Care") there are a number of scientific posters on the walls. These highlight epidemiological work completed using UBC ER data and they might be a good starting point for finding researchers or groups at UBC who are conducting this type of research.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest leviathan]

Thanks for the ideas, guys. I spoke with a researcher in the epi department, and his response was:

 

" From what you describe, it sounds like you're interested in health

services research, not really epidemiology, though you may want to pick

up some epi courses because of the similarities in methods. You might

also wish to contact someone from the Western Regional Training Program

in applied health services research, which is overseen by Professor Sam

Sheps (again, details should be on the departmental web site)."

 

So what the heck is health services research and what department does that fall under? :\

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

I met with Sam Sheps a few years back when I was keen on completing an Epidemiology PhD within the UBC MD/PhD program and he used to be affiliated with the Epidemiology folks at UBC. UBC has since started a program, CHSPR, which is focused on health services research. (The equivalent, award-winning program at UofT is Health Policy, Management and Evaluation.) Where the field of Epidemiology focuses on the patterns and outcomes of human disease, health services research is focused more on the utilization of resources within the health care industry, which does sound more in keeping with your interests.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen