Understanding Faculty and Trainee Needs Related to Scholarly Activity in a Large, Nonuniversity Graduate Medical Education Program.
Graduate medical education (GME) programs must develop curriculum to ensure scholarly activity among trainees and faculty to meet accreditation requirements and to support evidence-based medicine.



Test whether research-related needs and interests varied across four groups: primary care trainees, specialty trainees, primary care faculty, and specialty faculty.



We surveyed a random sample of trainees and faculty in Kaiser Permanente Southern California's GME programs. We investigated group differences in outcomes using Fisher exact and Kruskal-Wallis tests.



Research experiences, skills, barriers, motivators, and interests in specific research skills development.



Participants included 47 trainees and 26 faculty (response rate = 30%). Among primary care faculty, 12 (71%) reported little or no research experience vs 1 (11%) for specialty faculty, 14 (41%) for primary care trainees, and 1 (8%) for specialty trainees (p < 0.001). Submission of research to the institutional review board, an abstract to a conference, or a manuscript for publication in the previous year varied across groups (p = 0.001, p = 0.003, and p < 0.001, respectively). Overall self-reported research skills also differed across groups (p < 0.001). Primary care faculty reported the lowest skill level. Research barriers that differed across groups included other work roles taking priority; desire for work-life balance; and lack of managerial support, research equipment, administrative support, and funding.



Faculty and trainees in primary care and specialties have differing research-related needs that GME programs should consider when designing curricula to support scholarly activity. Developing research skills of primary care faculty is a priority to support trainees' scholarly activity.
Residency Research Director at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. davida.becker@kp.org.
Davida
D
Becker
Educational Consultant at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena, and an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, San Diego. hgarth@ucsd.edu.
Hanna
H
Garth
Performance Improvement and Patient Safety Program Manager at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. rachel.l.hollander@kp.org.
Rachel
R
Hollander
Director of Physician Education at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. felice.l.klein@kp.org.
Felice
F
Klein
Assistant Regional Medical Director of Learning, Education and Leadership and the Regional Chief of Head and Neck Surgery at Kaiser Permanente Southern California in Pasadena. marc.h.klau@kp.org.
Marc
M
Klau
D000068:Accreditation; D001290:Attitude; D002140:California; D003479:Curriculum; D004503:Education, Medical, Graduate; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005180:Faculty, Medical; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D009042:Motivation; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011361:Professional Competence; D012106:Research; D013038:Specialization; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires