medhopeful64 Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 I've never quite figured out why it is that med students continue to do research during med school. I know for certain fields it might be helpful to do things like clinical research (or to do a specialization?) but why else? Like say someone wanted to do family med, would they need to be volunteering/working in a lab (to put on their residency application?). Is it just to throw it on your resume? Sorry for the silly question! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 Obviously I'm not a med student...but it helps somewhat to match for competitive specialities or maybe they're MD/PhD or just a student who enjoys the labwork. It's also nice to explore a field more extensively that you are curious about (for ex. inner city community based medical research if that's what you want to improve/pursue) but no, it's not necessarily a requirement I think other than for MD/PhDs. Other med students can comment on this for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 It's mainly to improve your carms competitiveness. Research in med school matters much more than extracurricular activities. It's usually for competitive residencies. There is only a small minority of students who do it out of interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCat'sMeow Posted April 30, 2011 Report Share Posted April 30, 2011 Its not to say that research is the most important extra curricular activity you can do. It's just that you are likelier to get better gains from it, such as a publication (** especially if you are first author - ie. from a project you started in undergrad that gets all the way to publication, which can take years) and presentations at conferences. You can also get a very strong reference letter if you were lucky enough to do research in you field of interest (prior to med) with an MD who you can "work with " on elective during clerkship. Most ppl I knew kept research on the go if they weren't 100% sure they didn't want to specialize. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful64 Posted May 12, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 It's mainly to match to your desired residency in carms. Research in med school matters much more than extracurricular activities. It's usually for competitive residencies. There only is a small minority of students who do it out of interest. Ok thanks! What sorts of residencies would research help in matching for carms? and how exactly does it help (exposure to the field, i guess?) Also because the research you do is likely not in a lab. This could be either designing a teach module or doing chart reviews so it's a lot more clinical. Plus, it's interesting, and for some (like me), I need to like research in the field before I consider it for residency. Could you elaborate on the teach modules/chart reviews (I don't really know what those are lol) Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 Not that many people do research in medical school. As a previous pointed stated, most of the research is by people who are trying to match to competitive specialties. Even then, it's not that important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dokta Posted May 12, 2011 Report Share Posted May 12, 2011 I'm doing my master's in epidemiology and health economics, and I love it. Really hoping I get to continue doing research in med school, and even work in an academic research setting later in life. Most of my epi class were physicians going back to get their Master's and begin clinical research. Some because they enjoy it, others because they were looking for a competitive edge when looking at jobs. Publications can go a really long way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardiomegaly Posted May 13, 2011 Report Share Posted May 13, 2011 I would estimate at least 1/3 of our class did research at some point in their preclerkship years.... which is not insignificant. The way I see it, there's a few reasons to do research 1. You need to do research for certain specialties ie. ophtho, derm, plastics, urology (although most people do research later in clerkship for uro), ENT to stand a chance 2. You do it to get an idea of what clinical research is like - some people get to help out in ECG labs, rehab, nerve regeneration etc there's a huge variety. Some people do systematic reviews and some take part in clinical trials or prospective studies. 3. What I think is the most important - getting something out of your research project - abstracts to present at national conferences, manuscripts for submission to major journals. These represent opportunities to NETWORK. Meet other important people in the department at research days and get your face known to staff and residents. There's a difference between having a research project on your MSPR and having an oral presentation at that conference that the PD of your desired program attended and now you have something interesting to talk about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful64 Posted May 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 I would estimate at least 1/3 of our class did research at some point in their preclerkship years.... which is not insignificant. The way I see it, there's a few reasons to do research 1. You need to do research for certain specialties ie. ophtho, derm, plastics, urology (although most people do research later in clerkship for uro), ENT to stand a chance 2. You do it to get an idea of what clinical research is like - some people get to help out in ECG labs, rehab, nerve regeneration etc there's a huge variety. Some people do systematic reviews and some take part in clinical trials or prospective studies. 3. What I think is the most important - getting something out of your research project - abstracts to present at national conferences, manuscripts for submission to major journals. These represent opportunities to NETWORK. Meet other important people in the department at research days and get your face known to staff and residents. There's a difference between having a research project on your MSPR and having an oral presentation at that conference that the PD of your desired program attended and now you have something interesting to talk about. Thanks for the detailed response, it was really helpful! ok dumb question - What exactly do you do when you present an abstract at a national conference? And I hear "abstract" a lot around here and that its really important, is this just a summary of your work (like an abstract in a scientific paper?). and yeah, getting connections from research work makes sense. Thanks everyone for all your replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooty Posted May 18, 2011 Report Share Posted May 18, 2011 ok dumb question - What exactly do you do when you present an abstract at a national conference? And I hear "abstract" a lot around here and that its really important, is this just a summary of your work (like an abstract in a scientific paper?). and yeah, getting connections from research work makes sense. It could be in the form of a lecture that you deliver in a seminar or, most of the time, you make a poster that you present to passersby. regarding your previous question of for which specialties research matters most: it's almost required for the competitive specialties like the derm rads ophtho plastics. But it helps for any program, for reasons mentioned above. it won't make or break your match, but it helps to get you more interviews and put you higher on some match lists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medhopeful64 Posted May 19, 2011 Author Report Share Posted May 19, 2011 It could be in the form of a lecture that you deliver in a seminar or, most of the time, you make a poster that you present to passersby. regarding your previous question of for which specialties research matters most: it's almost required for the competitive specialties like the derm rads ophtho plastics. But it helps for any program, for reasons mentioned above. it won't make or break your match, but it helps to get you more interviews and put you higher on some match lists. Ahh I see, thank you tooty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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