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Ensuring Successful Research Projects at Your Institution

Ensuring Successful Research Projects at Your Institution. Jill A. Rebuck, Pharm.D., BCPS, FCCM Critical Care Pharmacist Clinician Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington VT Associate Professor of Surgery University of Vermont College of Medicine.

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Ensuring Successful Research Projects at Your Institution

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  1. Ensuring Successful Research Projects at Your Institution Jill A. Rebuck, Pharm.D., BCPS, FCCM Critical Care Pharmacist Clinician Fletcher Allen Health Care, Burlington VT Associate Professor of Surgery University of Vermont College of Medicine

  2. The Process Starts BEFORE the Residency Begins…

  3. “Inventory” Your Preceptors • Who is best to guide research projects during the year? • Not always the Program Director

  4. Ideas, Ideas, Ideas…Early! Defining the research question is key • Feasible • Interesting to the investigator • Novel • Ethical • Relevant Cummings SR, et al. Designing Clinical Research 1988

  5. Residents Arrive: Day ? of 365 • Share potential ideas with residents early • Do not require resident to complete project of no interest • Foster their ideas, if any You will do this project!

  6. After Resident Review of Ideas… • Rank top choices, resident to describe why projects are of interest • Ensure “good fit” of project & resident • Final selection of specific project

  7. Develop A Timeline

  8. Study Collaboration Enhances Successful Project Patients Pharmacists Physicians Resident Technicians Students Nurses Administrators Resp. Therapists Dieticians

  9. Study Methods • Formulate a hypothesis • “There is no difference in conversion to NSR between Drug A and Drug B in post-surgical patients” • Identify primary & secondary objectives • The % of patients who successfully convert to NSR during therapy with Drug A • The time to NSR cardioversion • Which dose of Drug A is most effective for conversion & maintenance of NSR

  10. The Dreaded Word: Statistics • Not applicable to all residency projects • Involve someone knowledgeable in statistics if available • Know how data are best expressed before collected • Express final data in appropriate form

  11. Manuscript Preparation You will never regret completing your project early!

  12. Key Manuscript Components • Title • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion

  13. Key Manuscript Components • Title • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion Start writing early (not June 2007) Section-by-Section Share drafts with co-investigators

  14. What’s In A Title? “Reader Appeal” • Retrospective use of ICU sedation or 2) Sedative patterns in the critically ill or 3) Does choice of sedation influence outcome in the critically ill surgical patient?

  15. Abstract • More readers glance at the abstract than any other section of the paper • MOST readers NEVER read paper, just abstract • Wait until rest of manuscript is written to complete abstract • Be certain your conclusion is supported by data provided

  16. Introduction • Avoid summary of well-known topic • 1 or 2 focused paragraphs • Why is this topic important? • What background information is critical? • Get reviewers & eventual readers excited • 1 page double-spaced maximum

  17. Methods Section • Study design • Type of institution & patient population • IRB approval • Data collection methods • Study-specific definitions • Statistical analysis • Easiest section of manuscript to write!

  18. Results • Maximize use of tables & figures • Do not repeat data already presented in illustrations in the text • Ensure data are expressed correctly • Evaluate for normal data distribution • Mean ± SD • Median (range or IQR)

  19. Discussion • Difficult section of paper to write • Prepare outline in advance of pertinent discussion points • First paragraph should answer “Why is this paper unique, different, important, etc. compared to published literature” • Length varies depending on journal & study design

  20. This Approach Works! Since 2000… Our PGY1 and PGY2 residents have: • Received multiple national awards for quality projects • Published two feature articles in major medical journals • Published successfully in multiple pharmacy journals • AJHP, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Hospital Pharmacy • Gained in-depth understanding of the entire process

  21. Concluding Remarks • Residency training is demanding • Quality research is challenging yet fun! Thank you

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