Basic Research Skills for an upcoming PGY1

[MatyasKiraly]

Hi all,

I have a somewhat general question and I am sorry if it is answered somewhere in an FAQ, I read the main stickied post and couldn't quite get what I was looking for.

I'm an M4 student and will be matching into internal medicine. I've been really fortunate to interview at a lot of great programs, despite not having a strong research background. Most of the residencies I've interviewed at are very proud of how much their residents publish and I'm cautiously optimistic about being able to do research as a resident. My exposure to research has so far been fairly minimal, with some basic science work in undergrad, but very little in the sense of authorship/scolarship. I'm a little worried that I will be lacking some skills/savvy that's needed to get things together in residency in a positive way.

I was hoping if someone could point me in the general direction of what some good resources are to get the basics of how to do research under one's belt. For example, what's the best way to do a literature review? a good tutorial on EndNote? Best resource for learning basic stats? (I know what a p-value is but that's about it. I'd have a hard time picking out the right model/test for a particular clinical scenario). There's probably a million other things I haven't even considered.

I'm sorry if this is a stupid post but I'm really hoping that I can add this skillset under my belt for the time next year starts so that hopefully I can be productive from a research standpoint at the next juncture.

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[deleted343839]

It sounds like you are going to program that has good support in place for trainee research. It is almost certain that you will not be doing the heavy lifting when it comes to research design, statistical analysis, sampling/data collection, etc. It takes years to develop research skills and use them independently. Regardless, kudos to you for wanting to become more familiar with research concepts. Try Coursera - you'll find all kinds of material there from reputable institutions, and you can create your own "crash course."

 

[tachycore]

I must also point out that publishing can mean many things. I've seen resident CVs filled with multiple pages of publications. All of them case reports. Important contributions to the body of medical knowledge. But they have considerably less weight than original research studies. I wouldn't expect these people (or most clinicians, honestly) to have a clue in doing a full scale clinical research study. I guarantee you that you'd be hard pressed to find an IM resident who fundamentally understands how to calculate out a K-M survival curve. And most turn out just fine as practicing MD's not knowing.

For your specific case if you're really invested, I would find a really good mentor. And it depends on your goals with research, which you should discuss up front with him/her. If they are only to get into a fellowship, then you don't need to learn everything necessarily. If you're planning to launch an academic career, then going a little more into depth in different areas might be worthwhile. Either way, a little guidance will go a long way in avoiding a lot of frustrations, misunderstanding, and downright bad sources of information.