A Dedicated Quarterly Research Meeting Increases Resident Research Productivity

Purpose:  Research is a vital component of a plastic surgery residency.  Residents participating in research are better able to critically evaluate literature encouraging residents to stay current throughout their careers¹.  Programs benefit from increased research by increasing their academic reputation and are able to attract stronger applicants, as more competitive applicants view a strong research infrastructure as more important than weaker applicants^1,2.  In order to foster collaboration and resident involvement, a quarterly research meeting was implemented to discuss all ongoing research projects within our division.  We report the effectiveness of implementation of a dedicated division wide quarterly research meeting in increasing the academic productivity of plastic surgery residents.

Methods:  Beginning in 2015, the Division of Plastic Surgery at our institution implemented a dedicated quarterly research meeting.  Academic productivity was assessed by number of publications in peer reviewed journals, oral presentations at national meetings, and oral presentations at regional meetings.  We examined the change in productivity before and after the implementation of the quarterly meeting.  Unpaired t-test was used to compare temporal differences. 

Experience:  3 years of data prior to the implementation of the quarterly meetings and 2 years of data after the implementation of the quarterly research meeting. 

Results:  In the 2 years after the implementation of the research meeting, residents published significantly more often with an average of 2 peer reviewed journal articles published per year per resident compared to 0.47 peer reviewed publications in the 3 years prior to implementation (2 vs 0.47 publications per resident per year, p=0.009).  Residents were also more likely to present at national (0 vs 0.75 presentations per resident per year, p=0.028) and regional meetings (0 vs 1 presentations per resident per year, p=0.001). 

Conclusions:  Implementation of a formal quarterly research meeting significantly improves resident research productivity.  Residents demonstrated more publications and oral presentations.  These results advocate for a more formal discussion of division wide research to improve resident research productivity. 

References

 

1. Ballard TN, Sando IC, Kasten SJ, Cederna Successfully Integrating Research into Plastic Surgery Training Programs.  J Craniofac Surg. 2015 Nov;26(8):2279-82
2. Atashroo DA, Luan A, Vyas KS, et al. What makes a plastic surgery residency program attractive? An applicant’s perspective. Plast Reconstr Surg 2015;136:189–196