Research and Scholarly Activity (RSA) Point system

Curriculum

Principles of research, scientific inquiry, and critical literature reading appraisal are important elements for residency training in Emergency Medicine. The goals of the NYPQ Department of Emergency Medicine is dedicated to improving clinical care by conducting research at the intersection of academic and community medicine and to develop scientifically literate emergency physicians by providing an opportunity to work with productive academic emergency physicians outcomes for patients through continuous improvement and innovation developed through evidence-based research. Our areas of expertise include medical education and simulation.

Resident Research Experience

Research Requirement: The Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education requires each physician in graduate medical education to perform research or other scholarly activities. Each resident is required to complete a research project with academic merit. that is suitable for publication during residency . Examples of projects include case reports, systematic literature reviews, basic science or a clinical-based research project clinical research. Residents may start develop their own projects from scratch under the guidance of a core faculty mentor or join faculty  in an an ongoing and well-established project. This decision is made in concert with the resident’s mentor and research faculty.

During the PGY-1 year, the resident identifies an area of interest through increasingly clinical exposure and attendance at research meetings. During the PGY-2 year, the resident completes a RAMER (Research And Medical Education Rotation); a month-long rotation split into 2 two-week blocks. RAMER exposes the resident to the basics of how to teach medical students and interns and provides protected time for the resident to bring his or her interest into focus. During the RAMER, the resident coheres his or her thoughts into a Specific Aims page that serves as an organizing document for the research. Ideas and areas of interest are generally initiated and developed during the PGY1 year. There is dedicated time allotted in the experiential curriculum during the PGY2 year for intensive work in resident project development. This is spread out over a two-week rotation that is coupled with medical education and an additional four-week rotation that is paired with emergency ultrasound. Protected time is also given to complete the components of responsible conduct in research (RCR) training, such as CITI modules, modules that are integral to obtaining IRB approval and conducting the research. .

 Projects are done with a faculty mentor and reviewed at EM Research Committee meetings. If approved by the Research Committee, projects are submitted to the Institutional Review Board (IRB). NYPQ utilizes a structured point system that assigns numerical points to each project and type and scholarly activity. Residents are required must to accumulate 100 points over three years as part of their research requirement to satisfy their research requirement.

Research Support: The Emergency Department has the support of departmental and hospital funding, resources, full statistical data analysis, and data visualization software. The department additionally has standing relationships with biostatisticians, consultants, and access to volunteer research associates to assist in data collection and entry. Additionally, residents are encouraged to present their work at regional and national research conferences, supported by the departmental budget. The department will fund presentations of a resident’s work with a $1,000 stipend for any time a resident presents his or her research or scholarly activity project if selected for presentation or poster display at a regional or national conference. Beyond the resources of the Emergency Department,

all NYPQ residents also have benefit from access to the Theresa Lang Center for Research, which provides support for applying for IRB applications, review of study design, and statistical approaches analysis. 

Journal Club: The department conducts monthly both internal and external journal club sessions each month, which entails a discussion of current literature pertinent to EM practice. Each journal club session is led by a core faculty member and a chief resident or RAMER resident leads each journal club session, in conjunction with resident group leaders. Each session typically covers 2-3 thematically related articles. The discussion of scientific articles is important in learning how to appraise the literature and integrate it with the realities of clinical medicine in a specific region. Concepts related to article review and critique, and evidence- based medicine are reviewed.

Research Staff