Physician-scientists in the United States at 2020: Trends and concerns

Factors of Engagement in Research After Graduation from EP Fellowship: an HRS Survey

BACKGROUND

The declining number of electrophysiologists pursuing academic research careers could negatively impact innovation for patients with heart rhythm disorders in the coming decades.

OBJECTIVE

To explore determinants of research engagement after graduation from EP fellowship programs and evaluate associated barriers and opportunities.

METHODS

A mixed methods survey of EP fellows and early career electrophysiologists was conducted, drawing from Heart Rhythm Society members. The survey encompassed 20 questions on demographics, research involvement, perceived research barriers, and perspectives on research time and opportunities. Responses were analyzed with robust Poisson regression.

RESULTS

Among 259 respondents, those with dedicated research blocks during their fellowship had a significantly higher interest in future research (RR 1.15, p=0.04). The number of peer-reviewed publications modestly influenced interest in continued research (RR 1.0034 per publication, p < 0.0001), but there was no relationship to gender or race. Educational resources, networking opportunities, mentorship, funding, and protected time to enhance research engagement were important themes in the qualitative analysis, while key barriers to post-fellowship research were lack of mentorship, insufficient resources and time constraints in that order, particular with respect to women in research. Notably, no significant differences in barriers were observed between community training programs and academic centers.

CONCLUSIONS

Research experience and mentorship during EP fellowship were key determinants of subsequent research success after training, with similar findings by sex and race. These findings explain how fellowship training influences a physician's research practice post training and highlights opportunities to modify EP fellowships and augment research retention.

Addressing Burnout and Enhancing Well-Being Among Academic Physicians: A Call for Future Research and Organizational Support

Description Burnout among academic physicians, who navigate multiple roles beyond the clinical environment, is a pressing issue. However, the factors driving burnout among academic physicians are not fully understood. Prior research has revealed differences in burnout dimensions between clinical and basic science faculty, but the impact of balancing research, education, and clinical demands on academic physicians is still unclear. This knowledge gap negatively affects the clinical, translational science, research, and medical education workforces and has particular implications for minoritized and marginalized groups working in academic medical centers. Creating a culture of well-being has been vital in addressing burnout. Further research is needed to explore the unique experiences and demands of academic physicians- particularly those from minoritized and marginalized backgrounds-and to develop effective strategies to promote well-being as they balance diverse roles and contexts. This commentary highlights gaps in understanding burnout among academic physicians and proposes guidelines for future research as well as strategies to improve well-being at academic medical centers.

The Road Well Traveled: Making Choices, Ensuring Progress While Heeding the "Clarion Call"

The career path of everyone is quite unique based on the goals and the choices we make, and success can take time to unfold. My career choices have been greatly influenced by remarkable mentors and opportunities. Reciprocally I have had the pleasure, as a faculty member, department chair, and medical school dean to mentor promising young physicians and scientists to launch successful careers. We need to continue to attract physicians and scientists to academic medicine to ensure that our field continues to innovate and improve the lives of our patients. To influence positive change, we must stay relentlessly focused and have faith that success will come.

Assessing the impact of Medical Education's Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program in China

OBJECTIVE

A growing number of clinical undergraduates are chosen to enter institutions for higher education biotechnology and industry workforce, though most need more laboratory experience training and business practice. Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program (I&E Program) can benefit from biological experiment and commercialization training largely absent from standard clinical medical educational curricula. Our study investigates the impact and status of the I&E Program in enhancing medical students' research and entrepreneurial abilities and provides recommendations for improving this program.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was applied by delivering a questionnaire to survey medical students from Central South University who participated in the I&E Program. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: basic information, the impact of the I&E Program on medical students' research and entrepreneurial abilities, and attitudes and recommendations regarding the I&E Program.

RESULTS

Many students participating in the I&E Program have received competition awards and improved their academic experience, article writing, and application patents. Their research-related abilities have been enhanced, including in-lab techniques, theoretical research skills, data analysis knowledge, clinical research skills, experimental research skills, entrepreneurship, data analysis ability, teamwork, and communication. While 73.93% of students express satisfaction with the I&E Program, there are still several areas of improvement, including more robust practical components, increased support, and enhanced teamwork.

CONCLUSION

The scale of the I&E Program is rapidly expanding to address scientific research or business skills needed by college students in the new era. However, more programs still need to be discontinued during their further study. The I&E Program significantly enhances research abilities and fosters confidence in their study. This analysis emphasizes the importance of research-oriented and interdisciplinary education for students' holistic development in medical schools compared with formal medical education.

Teaching Science to the Next Generation

Teaching science to the next generation begins with foundations laid in podiatric medical school. Interest and immersion in research continues to develop through residency as trainees prepare for cases, participate in journal clubs, present posters and articles, and attend conferences. Having adequate training is essential to production of quality research. Although challenges and barriers exist, numerous resources are available at all levels of practice to guide those who are interested in contributing to the body of literature that supports the profession. Ensuring a robust pipeline of future clinician scientists is critical to the future of the profession.

Emergency medicine residency pathways for MD/PhD trainees: A national cross-sectional study of physician-scientist training programs

Background

Combined clinical and research training is common in residency programs outside emergency medicine (EM), and these pathways are particularly valuable for combined MD/PhD graduates planning to pursue a career as a physician-scientist. However, EM departments may not know what resources to provide these trainees during residency to create research-focused, productive, future faculty, and trainees may not know which programs support their goal of becoming a physician-scientist in EM. The objective of this study was to describe research training and resources available to MD/PhD graduates in EM residency training with a focus on dedicated research pathways.

Methods

This study was a cross-sectional inventory conducted through an electronic survey of EM residency program directors. We sought to identify dedicated MD/PhD research training pathways, with a focus on both resources and training priorities. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize survey responses.

Results

We collected 192 survey responses (69.6% response rate). Among respondents, 41 programs (21.4%) offered a research pathway/track, 52 (27.4%) offered a research fellowship, 22 (11.5%) offered both a residency research pathway/track and a research fellowship, and two (1.0%) offered a dedicated EM physician-scientist training pathway. Most programs considered research a priority and were enthusiastic about interviewing applicants planning a research career, but recruitment of physician-scientist applicants was not generally prioritized.

Conclusions

Some EM residency programs offer combined clinical and mentored research training for prospective physician-scientists, and nearly all residency programs considered research important. Future work will focus on improving the EM physician-scientist pipeline by optimizing pathways available to trainees during residency and fellowship.

Knowledge, Attitudes, and Barriers Toward Research Among Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study in Turkey

Background

Scientific research is essential in medicine to practice evidence-based medicine and improve healthcare quality. Research experience enables students to hone their skills in thinking critically, understanding data, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of scientific articles.

Objective

This study aims to determine knowledge, attitudes, and barriers toward research and assess research participation experience among medical students in Turkey.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional study among medical students in Turkey. Data was collected using an online self-administered questionnaire.

Results

A total of 487 students, 65.1% female, completed the questionnaire. The majority of students (78.9%) showed a poor level of knowledge regarding research, although 23.2% had previously participated in a research project. Females reported significantly higher positive attitude scores (32.2 versus 31.3, p = 0.034) than males. Graduates of high schools based abroad had substantially lower knowledge scores than Anatolian, Science, and Private High School graduates (1.4 versus 2.7, 2.6, 2.4; p < 0.001). Students with experience in a research project had significantly higher knowledge scores (2.7 versus 2.3, p = 0.045). Students who wish to participate in a scientific research project in their future career had both substantially higher positive attitude scores (32.4 versus 29.6, p < 0.001) and knowledge scores (2.5 versus 1.8, p < 0.001) than those with no interest.

Conclusion

Most participants had a positive attitude but lacked research knowledge. Some perceived barriers were lack of funding, time, proper mentoring, laboratories, and facilities. Developing better training systems may help to convert students' positive attitudes toward research into improved knowledge, practices, and overcoming research barriers.

Supplementary information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-024-01987-0.

National Pediatrician-Scientist Collaborative Workgroup comment on new ACGME requirements' impact on pediatric physician-scientists

BACKGROUND

The ACGME recently released its recommendation for updates to the program requirements for pediatrics. These updates proposed changes to allocation of resident clinical time and a greater emphasis on individualization. The potential impact of these changes on the training of physician-scientists is discussed.

METHODS

Discussion of the proposed changes was held within the members of the National Pediatrician-Scientist Collaborative Workgroup, a group that represents scientists, trainees, program directors, chairs, and physician-scientist educators at nearly 30 residency programs from across the US with a focus on understanding and developing optimal approaches to physician-scientist training. Consideration was given to the both the personal and institutional impact of the proposal for physician-scientist development.

RESULTS

Both threats and opportunities were identified. Key opportunities include the enhanced individualized training time that could be used to explore research. Threats include re-allocation of clinical training time that may strain institutions financially, expand clinical service requirements for other early career stage individuals, and alter exposure to a broad range of pediatric specialists and sub-specialists that impact career development.

CONCLUSION

The NPSCW encourages consideration of the impact of changing program requirements on physician-scientist development to include ongoing discussion amongst mentors, programs, and trainees to understand and mitigate impact of new program requirements on the development of pediatrician-scientists.

Postdoctoral National Institutes of Health F32 Grants: Broken Pipeline in the Development of Surgeon-Scientists

OBJECTIVE

We examined trainees in surgery and internal medicine who received National Institutes of Health (NIH) F32 postdoctoral awards to determine their success rates in obtaining future NIH funding.

BACKGROUND

Trainees participate in dedicated research years during residency (surgery) and fellowship (internal medicine). They can obtain an NIH F32 grant to fund their research time and have structured mentorship.

METHODS

We collected NIH F32 grants (1992-2021) for Surgery Departments and Internal Medicine Departments from NIH RePORTER, an online database of NIH grants. Nonsurgeons and noninternal medicine physicians were excluded. We collected demographic information on each recipient, including gender, current specialty, leadership positions, graduate degrees, and any future NIH grants they received. A Mann-Whitney U test was used for continuous variables, and a χ 2 test was utilized to analyze categorical variables. An alpha value of 0.05 was used to determine significance.

RESULTS

We identified 269 surgeons and 735 internal medicine trainees who received F32 grants. A total of 48 surgeons (17.8%) and 339 internal medicine trainees (50.2%) received future NIH funding ( P < 0.0001). Similarly, 24 surgeons (8.9%) and 145 internal medicine trainees (19.7%) received an R01 in the future ( P < 0.0001). Surgeons who received F32 grants were more likely to be department chair or division chiefs ( P =0.0055 and P < 0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

Surgery trainees who obtain NIH F32 grants during dedicated research years are less likely to receive any form of NIH funding in the future compared with their internal medicine colleagues who received F32 grants.