Abstract
BackgroundSummer student research programs (SSRPs) serve to generate student interest in research and a clinician-scientist career path. This study sought to understand the composition of existing medically-related Canadian SSRPs, describe the current selection, education and evaluation practices and highlight opportunities for improvement.MethodsA cross-sectional survey study among English-language-based medically-related Canadian SSRPs for undergraduate and medical students was conducted. Programs were systematically identified through academic and/or institutional websites. The survey, administered between June–August 2016, collected information on program demographics, competition, selection, student experience, and program self-evaluation.ResultsForty-six of 91 (50.5%) identified programs responded. These SSRPs collectively offered 1842 positions with a mean 3.76 applicants per placement. Most programs (78.3%, n = 36/46) required students to independently secure a research supervisor. A formal curriculum existed among 61.4% (n = 27/44) of programs. Few programs (5.9%, n = 2/34) offered an integrated clinical observership. Regarding evaluation, 11.4% (n = 5/44) of programs tracked subsequent research productivity and 27.5% (n = 11/40) conducted long-term impact assessments.ConclusionsCanadian SSRPs are highly competitive with the responsibility of selection primarily with the individual research supervisor rather than a centralized committee. Most programs offered students opportunities to develop both research and communication skills. Presently, the majority of programs do not have a sufficient evaluation component. These findings indicate that SSRPs may benefit from refinement of selection processes and more robust evaluation of their utility. To address this challenge, the authors describe a logic model that provides a set of core outcomes which can be applied as a framework to guide program evaluation of SSRPs.
Highlights
Summer student research programs (SSRPs) serve to generate student interest in research and a clinician-scientist career path
Canadian SSRPs reported internal variations regarding the length of summer student employment, with 12-week (50.0% [23/46]) and 16-week (41.3% [19/46]) placements being most common
The high competition level we described may be influenced by students applying to multiple SSRPs which our survey could not discern
Summary
Summer student research programs (SSRPs) serve to generate student interest in research and a clinician-scientist career path. Clinician-scientists are uniquely qualified to integrate perspectives from their clinical experiences with scientific inquiry to generate new knowledge about health and disease through research and translate research findings into medical practice. Medically-related summer student research programs (SSRPs) targeting undergraduate and medical students represent one such avenue to increase students’ interest in a clinician-scientists career path. Previous research has shown that SSRPs stimulate or strengthen students’ interest and participation in research activities, encourage integration of research into career choices, and aid in research-related skills development [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. This study, sought to understand the composition of existing medically-related Canadian SSRPs, describe the current selection, education and evaluation practices and highlight opportunities for improvement
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