Getting involved in research at MCG

[drdrizzle]

I think MCG has excellent clinical teachers. But they lack guys/gals who are pounding out the studies esp in IM with the exception of the nephrology department. These are opportunities that students could have taken advantage of. However, MCG is actively trying to recruit more academic physicians for the reasons I mentioned elsewhere. Having said that, I think there are still many opportunities for you to get involved in some kind of clinical research if you are interested. Some of the residents are involved a good amount of clinical research themselves. After all they are trying to get competitive fellowships as well. I would start with them and ask if they need some help with any of their projects or know another resident who does. Sometimes they might have a good idea but they don’t have the time to actually do it. That’s where you come in. You would have to do the leg work like collecting data, doing H and Ps, researching the lit, etc. And they will help you along with the attending who is also supervising the project. This way you get some good experience and you might get a publication out of it. The chief residents or fellows may be able to guide you. And then you can always go to an attending that you like or worked with and ask them if you can help get some experience with clinical research. I haven’t done this kind of research before, but I hear it can be time consuming. My project failed in the planning stages when we started evaluating the literature and found there wasn’t much we could add. But it was still a good experience. Even though I don’t get “credit” for it. You can also help them write up a case report that they haven’t been able to get around to even though you never saw the patient. All this extra work is well worth it if you get a publication. In my opinion more important than making a B in surgery in the long run (except if you are in AOA contention). 5 years from now when you apply for a fellowship no one will know what you made in surgery. But that publication will stay on your CV for the rest of your career. Again, you don’t have to do all this for an internal medicine residency. But it will really look good and likely you will need some publications for fellowship placement.