P. M. Shah1, B. L. Edwards1, Z. Dietch1, R. G. Sawyer1, A. T. Schroen1 1University Of Virginia,General Surgery,Charlottesville, VA, USA
Introduction: Many general surgery residents interrupt clinical training for research pursuits. After the inception of the Masters in Clinical Research (MS-CR) and Masters of Public Health (MPH) degree programs at our affiliated university in 1997 and 2003, respectively, an increasing number of residents are obtaining these degrees during dedicated research time (DRT). In an era of decreasing research funding, we aim to determine whether attaining an additional degree during DRT impacts research productivity. We hypothesize that time required to obtain a second degree during DRT decreases resident publication productivity.
Methods: All consecutive categorical general surgery residents from cohorts graduating in 2007 – 2015 were evaluated, which includes all our residents obtaining a second degree during DRT. Pubmed queries identified number of journal publications for each resident during and after DRT, limited to one-year post residency graduation. Residents without DRT and those with advanced degrees prior to residency were excluded. DRT varied between 1 and 3 years, typically between clinical years II and III. To standardize DRT variation, publication number was divided by the total sum of DRT plus remaining clinical years and one post graduation year. Median publications were compared between residents by receipt of a second degree.
Results:Of 38 residents with DRT in the study period, 2 residents already had advanced degrees, leaving 36 eligible for analysis. Of these, 8 obtained an MS-CR, 3 received MPH degrees and 1 completed a Ph.D. Total publications ranged from 2-76 for residents earning second degrees and 1-38 for residents who did not. Of 12 residents completing degree programs, median publication number per year (any authorship) was 3.57 (IQR 2.33, 5.33) compared to 2.55 (IQR 1.58, 3.47) in residents not pursuing a postdoctoral degree (p=0.06). There was no significant difference in median number of 1st and 2nd author publications by receipt of second degree (Table 1).
Conclusion:Although a trend towards greater number of publications was seen among residents earning a second degree, there was no statistically significant difference in research productivity between residents obtaining postdoctoral degrees during DRT compared to their counterparts. Our study demonstrates that residents pursuing a second degree are not hindered in their publication productivity despite the time investment required by the degree program. Additional research is needed to determine if formal research training through a second degree corresponds to sustained scholarly productivity beyond residency.
