Georgetown University - Department of Medicine

RESIDENT RESEARCH PROGRAM POLICY
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE
August 21, 2007

The Residency Research program(RRP) has been established to promote scholarly work and research activities amongst housestaff in the Georgetown University Hospital Department of Medicine. The RRP will be assigned to an Associate Program Director who will oversee this program, and will ensure that the medical housestaff are compliant with the policies of the RRP.

RESEARCH AND SCHOLARLY ACTIVITES REQUIREMENT

All medical housestaff are required to complete at least one scholarly/research activity before the completion of their residency training. Compliance with this requirement will be monitored by the Clinical Competency Committee.

The following are considered acceptable mechanisms to meet this minimal requirement:

1.)    Poster presentation at the Department of Medicine Research Day.
2.)    Poster/Podium presentation at a regional American College of Physicians meeting.
3.)    Poster/Oral presentation at any national meeting.
4.)    Manuscript preparation for a peer reviewed journal.
5.)    Contribution or co-authorship of a textbook chapter.

A copy of all abstracts submitted to a departmental, regional, or national conference should be submitted electronically to the designated administrator of the residency program, and the Associate program Director for review and filing into the resident’s Clinical Competency File. Journal article abstracts and Textbook chapter abstracts should also be submitted electronically as described above. The abstract in the resident’s file will serve as the written documentation that a resident has completed his/her scholarly activity/research requirement.

RESIDENCY RESEARCH ELECTIVE [link: elective request form]

Residents are permitted to take one month per year elective time for research activities. Therefore, a categorical resident is permitted to have a total of three months elective time in research. The scheduling of these elective months will be coordinated by the chief medical resident.

In order to apply for a research month, the following must be completed prior to the initiation of the elective month:

1.)    Meet with Associate Program Director.
2.)    Submit Residency Research Elective Form electronically to the Associate program Director.

It is recommended that residents choosing to do a research elective meet with the Associate Program Director at least two months in advance of the elective. Residents who fail to comply with the above in a timely manner, could forfeit their research month, and be reassigned to another elective month.

The following requirements are expected of all residents who have completed a research month:

1.)    Residents will be expected to do a 15 -20 minute presentation at a noontime conference about their research topic. It is expected that the resident will give an academic discussion on the overview and background of the research topic, citing references from the medical literature. The timing of this presentation will be arranged by the chief resident, and will usually occur at the end of the research month.

2.)    Poster presentation at the Department of Medicine Research Day. All residents must present at the annual DOM Research Day, regardless of whether or not their work has been completed. This will give the residents an opportunity to present their work, and receive feedback from an unbiased group of judges.

THE DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE RESEARCH DAY

The DOM Research Day has been established to serve as a forum where students, residents, fellows, and faculty can present their original research work to the Georgetown medical community. Participation by the medical housestaff is strongly encouraged. Cash awards have been established by Dr. Charles Rackley for the outstanding clinical vignette, clinical research, and basic science categories for medical students, residents, fellows, and post-doctoral fellows. The DOM Research Day will occur annually in the spring of each academic year. The winners of each category will present at a Research Grand Rounds which will be scheduled by the chief medical resident.

RESIDENCY RESEARCH REIMBURSEMENT POLICY

17 August 2007 (Revised)

The Department of medicine (DOM) strongly encourages the participation of the medical housestaff in scholarly activities and research activities. Medical residents are encouraged to submit their work to the DOM Research Day, Regional ACP Meetings, and appropriate national meetings. In an effort to support these endeavors, the following policy has been established to address the funding of these activities.

1.)   DOM Research day: Medical housestaff are encouraged to submit research abstracts and clinical case vignettes to the Annual DOM Research day. There are no registration fees for this event, and no costs are incurred to the residents. The DOM will provide funding for poster development for this event, as long as the poster is prepared and formatted by the resident, and submitted to Faculty and Curriculum Support Services in the medical school opposite the library (202 687-1012). An account will be set up by the DOM for each Research day event, and medical residents will be authorized to use this account to prepare their posters. A total of $100.00 will be allotted for each poster. Residents who choose to use outside printers (such as Kinko’s), will not be reimbursed.

2.)   Regional ACP Meetings: There is a Fall and Spring ACP Meeting and Competitions every year, and the location is The Uniform Services Health Science University, in Bethesda, Maryland. While there are no registration fees to attend, both oral and poster presenters must be an ACP member/associate to participate in the competition. Residents who are selected to present are encouraged to become an ACP Associate. If a resident is chosen to represent the GUH DOM, and is not an ACP Associate, then he/she can be reimbursed through the DOM for the $99.00 registration fee.

The policy for poster development for the ACP meetings will follow the same guidelines as listed in #1 above.

3.)   National Meetings: The DOM encourages the subspecialty divisions to sponsor medical residents who have completed clinical research projects to present at a national meeting on their behalf. It is anticipated that the sponsoring subspecialty division will be responsible for providing partial/complete travel funds for national meetings. Should travel funds not be available, then the following policy should be followed:

a.)   The resident should discuss with the sponsoring subspecialty division PRIOR to submitting the abstract to determine his/her participation at the meeting. In order to be eligible for any DOM funding, the resident must be responsible for presenting the work at the national meeting. It is not a requirement for the resident to be the lead author; however the resident MUST be the presenting author. (Co-authorship of an abstract does not qualify a resident for travel funds in the absence of being the presenting author.)

b.)   At the time of abstract submission, the resident should contact the registration website to determine if he/she is eligible for a travel scholarship through the sponsoring organization. Many organizations will give out Young Investigator awards to offset the travel costs.

c.)   If no funding is available through the sponsoring subspecialty division or the sponsoring organization, the resident can apply for travel funds through the DOM.

d.)   The resident must provide a copy of the accepted abstract, and a letter from the subspecialty division stating that the resident has contributed significantly to the abstract and will be presenting at the meeting. This information should be submitted to the designated Associate Program Director.

e.)   A total of $1000.00 will be available to a resident which will be used for registration fees and travel fees. The resident is responsible for providing the original receipts for his/her expenses to the DOM upon return from the meeting.

f.)   Residents coverage: Residents who are traveling to National meetings to present their work must arrange appropriate coverage at least 2 months in advance. Coverage must be coordinated and approved by the Chief Medical Resident.

Any poster development cost will be charged to an account number after approval from the designated Associate program director as described in # 1 above.

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