380TF The Emergency Medicine Research Rotation

Abstract

The Residency Review Committee for Emergency Medicine (EM) requires that all residents a scholarly project prior to graduation. This curriculum is intended to provide EM residents with baseline knowledge and skills to design and conduct a research project and to provide protected time for residents to design the scholarly project that they will complete over the remainder of the tenure in residency. At the end of this rotation, the resident will be able to 1) demonstrate proficiency in basic research methodology and study design, 2) formulate a testable research question, 3) construct a study to answer that question, 4) perform a preliminary literature search on the research topic, 5) construct a one-page research proposal document During the beginning of the second post-graduate year (PGY), three residents at a time are scheduled for the research rotation. The rotation takes place over five consecutive weekdays during which residents are free of all clinical duties. Residents use online modules in statistics, epidemiology and research design. They also participate in moderated small-group brainstorming sessions to scope their research question. Experiential learning includes attending a workshop run by medical librarians on searching the literature and using bibliography software and spending a half day enrolling patients in clinical trials with department research associates. Residents are provided with office space and computers and have access to departmental research coordinators. At the end of the curriculum, residents must submit a one-page research proposal document that is graded by departmental research faculty according to a rubric modified from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. The rubric includes assessment of the project’s clarity, applicability of methods and metrics, approach, feasibility, significance, innovation and presentation. Residents are also given the opportunity to evaluate the curriculum via an anonymous online survey. Completing a research rotation during the beginning of PGY2 year allows residents time to a scholarly project by graduation. An intensive experience using mixed learning methods introduces tools that residents can reference throughout residency to aid in successful completion of the scholarly project. Residents find the sessions helpful and enjoyable, but the results of the grading rubric demonstrate that residents often develop research projects that are too large in scope to be completed during residency.