Development of a Surgical Research Program for Medical Students and its Short-Term Impact on Academic Productivity

Abstract

Objective: To describe the development and implementation of a mentored surgical research program for medical students and its short-term impact on academic productivity.

Design: Description of an educational research program.

Setting: University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Participants: Rising second-year medical students.

Methods: We piloted an 8-week mentored surgical research program with an interactive curriculum that included lectures on fundamental research skills and conferences for early clinical exposure. Each student was paired with a faculty mentor and research project and provided weekly updates at faculty led work-in-progress meetings. Students who completed the program were provided with an end-of-program evaluation of their own learning. Follow-up at 3-months and 6-months post-program completion assessed continued research engagement and productivity.

Results: Thirteen 1st year medical students completed the pilot program. Eleven (85%) students completed the end-of-program evaluation. All students felt the program was valuable to their future and helped develop their ability to investigate and solve new research questions. All students felt confident or very confident that they had the knowledge and resources to write and submit an abstract to a national meeting, and 10 (91%) felt similarly about writing a manuscript in the future. On 3-month follow-up, 11 (85%) of the 13 students were still engaged with their research labs; six (46%) had submitted an abstract to a national meeting, 3 (23%) of which were accepted for oral presentation. Two (15%) were in the process of drafting a manuscript; none had yet submitted one. At 6-month follow-up, 2 additional students had abstracts accepted for oral presentation. One student had submitted a manuscript, and 3 were in the process of drafting one.

Conclusions: Integrating research early into the medical school curriculum helps equip students with the fundamental skills needed for early academic achievement and may help establish success in academic careers.

Keywords: academic medicine; medical education; physician-scientist; surgical education.