Evaluation of an Internal Medicine Resident Research Program and Barriers to Research at an Academic Medical Center

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Abstract
Background: Research in residency supports career development, but improving research without compromising clinical training is challenging. Methods: At Brown Internal Medicine, we implemented an intern research day in 2016 with instruction in study design, IRB, and statistical guidance. We compared resident research characteristics between cohorts exposed to the program (2018-2020) versus those not exposed (2015-2017), using t-tests and chi-squared tests. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds of manuscript publication or national conference presentation during residency. Results: Among 260 residents (100% response), lack of time was the most prevalent research barrier (83%), followed by lack of statistical support (53%), finding a mentor (50%), the IRB process (50%), lack of experience (41%), and lack of interest (27%). Peer-reviewed publications during residency increased from 57 in the pre-intervention cohort to 199 in the post-intervention cohort; national presentations increased from 40 to 140. Pre-residency clinical research experience was associated with greater odds of publication (OR 5.3, CI 2.9-9.5) and national presentation (OR 4.6, CI 2.5-8.4) during residency. The number of pre-residency publications was not significantly associated with the odds of residency publications or presentations. Research interest level was also associated with peer-reviewed publications (OR 3.2, CI 2.2-4.5) and national presentations (OR 2.2, CI 1.6-3.0) during residency. Conclusions: Implementation of an early research-training program was temporally associated with increased resident research productivity, although the observational pre-post design does not permit attribution of these changes specifically to the intervention. Understanding research barriers and facilitators may help guide efforts to increase scholarly activity.

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