Benefits of research for MD-only applicants

[mcater2006]

Dear Premed101er's:

 

This question only dawned upon me yesterday while I was preparing for my UofT interview:

 

For those of us (most of us actually) who are applying to the MD only program, not the MD/PhD program, what are the benefits of the research that we did. I know that research is important for MD applicants regardless of whether one intends to pursue the combined program or not. We all say "research, research, research" all the time. But I realized just now that I do not have a good reason to justify the importance of research to my MD-only application.

 

FYI my research is in the area of bioinformatics. In case the answer to this question is a field-specific thing.

 

Thanks.

 

mcater2006

[Lactic Folly]

You may have heard about evidence based medicine, which involves using the research literature to guide clinical decisions that physicians make in day-to-day practice. For example, you have a patient in your office who has an asymptomatic carotid bruit. Should you recommend further investigations, or further treatment if the investigations are positive? How will you answer their questions about the risk of stroke if nothing is done versus the risk of complications if they go down the path of investigation and treatment? Being able to locate studies addressing these questions and evaluate them critically is thus an important skill.

 

In the spirit of reflecting on what you learned from your extracurricular activities and volunteering - what other transferable skills have you learned from your research experiences? Attention to detail, skills in data analysis, an appreciation for the value of stick-to-it-iveness (I'll let you find a better way to express that in your interview)... the list goes on and on.

[mcater2006]

Hi Lactic_folly

 

Ahhhh...I am enlightened. Thank you for also mentioning "evidence-based" medicine. It was mentioned in at least one interview and I must know about it well.

 

Are there any other medicine "type" (insert fancy medical techno-jargon here) that I should be aware of.

 

Oh, and I think one word for the stick-to-it-iveness is "persistence"

 

Thanks.

 

mcater2006

[Lactic Folly]

No problem, glad that was helpful. Well, evidence based medicine, integrating the best research evidence with clinical experience and patient values, does certainly seem to be the gold standard nowadays. However, one of our course coordinators did talk about "evidence _informed_ practice", in light of the fact that information is constantly changing, sometimes contradictory/incomplete, and practitioners may not always be following the very latest guidelines to the letter