Selecting (or joining) a research project

Where to start? 

Start by meeting with your Research Director:

Dr. Nick Smith, Orthopedic Surgery
Dr. Bradley Evans, General Surgery

Ask important questions (for example):

• Is topic relevant?
• Is topic too vast or should I narrow it down?
• How involve will I get with this topic?
• Is there enough material available on this topic?

Planning

• What support is available for this project?
• Can you use online material?

Doing the work

• Does the research involve the public input?

Data Analysis

• What is research outcome?
• Do you achieve what you set out to do?

Extra: the program is involved in many trials, both multi-centered and in-house. There is a dedicated research nurse to assist with multiple aspects of your research project. A learner may also complete a Masters in Clinical Epidemiology while at Memorial. Allowances can be made to help facilitate a student in completing this program during their fifth year residency.

Overall goals of the Curriculum

A well-organized, structured training expert opinion, published curricula and their own clinical experiences to identify goals and objectives. They were tempered by resource constraints including faculty and curricular time.

Goals: To provide trainees with knowledge and skills to analyze new information and become lifelong learners. To develop and complete one to two high quality research/quality assurance projects.

Objectives: To understand and be able to interpret common statistical tests

1. To understand the pros and cons of various study designs.

2. To understand different levels of evidence.

3. To understand how to critically appraise scientific articles.

4. To become familiar with common terms used in epidemiology including validity, reliability, generalizability, bias, confounding, incidence, prevalence, efficacy, effectiveness and equipoise.

5. To be able to develop a research question, search the literature and then be able to design a study to answer that question.

6. To able to present the research project as a written abstract, a poster, and/or as a podium presentation.

7. Perform research in an ethical manner and in compliance with the local human investigations committee.

Curriculum is essential to ensure that the required knowledge and skills are attained. The developers of this curriculum used the results of the problem identification.