title: Building a resident research program in emergency medicine.
abstract: Residency training programs requirements state, "Residents should participate in scholarly activity." However, there is little consensus regarding how best to achieve these requirements. The objective of this study is to implement a resident research program that emphasizes resident participation in quantitative or qualitative empirical work. A three-step program "Think, Do, Write" roughly follows the 3 years of the residency. During the first phase, the resident chooses a topic, formulates a hypothesis, and completes standard research certifications. Phase 2 involves obtaining Institutional Review Board approval, and conducting the study. The final phase entails analyzing and interpreting the data, and writing an abstract to present during an annual research day. Residents are encouraged to submit their projects for presentation at scientific conferences and for publication. Multiple departmental resources are available, including a Resident Research Fund, and full support of the faculty. Prior to the new program, most scholarly activity consisted of case reports, book chapters, review articles, or other miscellaneous projects; only 27 % represented empirical studies. Starting in 2012, the new program was fully implemented, resulting in notable growth in original empirical works among residents. Currently there is almost 100 % participation in studies, and numerous residents have presented at national conferences, and have peer-reviewed publications. With a comprehensive and supported program in place, emergency medicine residents proved capable of conducting high-quality empirical research within their relatively limited time. Overall, residents developed valuable skills in research design and statistical analysis, and greatly increased their productivity as academic and clinical researchers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 N 15th St., MS 1011, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA.
authors.forename: Romy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nocera
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 N 15th St., MS 1011, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA. edward.ramoska@drexelmed.edu.
authors.forename: Edward Anthony
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Ramoska
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, Drexel University College of Medicine, 245 N 15th St., MS 1011, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA.
authors.forename: Richard Joseph
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Hamilton
mesh_terms: D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education*; D036262:Empirical Research; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D016730:Program Development
keywords: Empirical research; Residency training; Resident education; Resident research