Scholarly Activity for Hospitalists – Orientation
J Rush Pierce Jr, MD, MPH
September 15, 2009
A. Is it important?
B. Types of activities and resources
1. Case reports – can help resident/students. Good resource is ACP site (http://www.acponline.org/residents_fellows/competitions/abstract/prepare/index.html)
General guidelines for appropriate cases:
-rare condition
-unusual presentation of common illness
-especially instructive case (increases awareness of a condition, suggests the proper diagnostic strategy, or demonstrates a more cost-effective approach to management)
-unusual complication of a disease
-unusual aspect of management
2. New curriculum or teaching technique (see: Beckman TJ, Cook DA. Developing scholarly projects in education: A primer for medical teachers. Med Teach. 2007 Mar;29(2-3):210-8.on WIKI)
For residents ideas see (http://www.im.org/Publications/Faculty/Documents/chapter2.pdf, http://www.im.org/RESOURCES/EDUCATION/RESIDENTS/LEARNING/ELEARNINGTASKFORCE/Pages/Default.aspx)
For student ideas see (http://www.im.org/Resources/Education/Students/Learning/Pages/SIMPLE.aspx)
3. Description of new program or new experience of old program
i.e. effects of intensive recruiting by hospitalist hiring committee
4. Survey of effect of intervention – i.e. “Residents’ perception of CPOE implementation”
5. Effect of hospital-wide QA or patient safety intervention – i.e. “Effect of falls prevention program at a University in-patient service”
See: Davidoff F, Batalden P, Stevens D, Ogrinc G, Mooney S, SQUIRE Development Group. Publication guidelines for quality improvement in health care: Evolution of the SQUIRE project. Qual Saf Health Care. 2008 Oct;17 Suppl 1:i3-9. On WIKI
D. IRB Training
1. Will be necessary to be listed as investigator on any project
2. Has to be renewed every two years.
3. Does not train you in how to fill out an application.
4. Do on-line – go to (http://hsc.unm.edu/som/research/hrrc/CITI.shtml); be sure to click “Biomedical Training.” You will have to create account, make sure you indicate UNM faculty.
5. IRB application will probably be needed for any type of study except case report.
E. Converting a clinical question into a research project – getting started
(see: Bordage G, Dawson B. Experimental study design and grant writing in eight steps and 28 questions. Med Educ. 2003 Apr;37(4):376-85.on WIKI)
F. Literature review – can be brief. I usually start with PubMed search and look for review articles, read that first. Educational articles are trickier; see the article above for hints about literature searches in education literature.
G. Discuss your idea with a mentor or someone else; or look at literature about what others have done.
H. Write a study protocol
1. Title
2. Investigator(s) – all must have IRB training
3. Background
4. Project design
5. Source of data and sample size
6. Recruitment of subjects
7. Potential risks to subjects
8. Potential benefits of study
9. Risks vs benefits
10. Participating agencies