Home Program Philosophy Curriculum How to Apply & Eligibility Guidelines Fellowships Research Meet The Faculty Meet The Residents Greater Lawrence Family Health Center Lawrence General Hospital About Lawrence, MA Salary & Benefits


Residency Videos
 
Lawrence Family Medicine Residency 34 Haverhill Street, Lawrence, MA 01841
Tel: 978-725-7410  Fax: 978-687-2106
EMail: residency@glfhc.org
Residency Research Requirements

The Lawrence Family Medicine Residency is committed to research and provides assistance with project planning, research design, implementation and manuscript preparation. A list of resident publications and presentations at state and national meetings is available from the residency office.

The residents at the Lawrence Family Medicine Residency were formerly required to research their own panels for Quality Assurance and the class of 2008 was the last to do so.

Letters to the editor and posters at regional and national conferences are encouraged and supported with the help of the Research Director, Anthony Valdini, MD. Additionally, collaboration with faculty or fellows conducting existing projects has provided an introduction to research for some residents. Residents are encouraged to join research teams when they discover a project of interest. It is hoped that exposure to these opportunities will foster a more rigorous approach to interpretation of the literature and enable residents to ask and answer clinical questions intelligently.

A monthly Research Meeting is scheduled for residents and faculty. Residents are required to attend (rotation specific), regardless of whether they have an ongoing project or not. Other attendees include members of the Lawrence General Hospital staff and the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center and members of the local medical community. The usual agenda for these meetings includes progress reports about research in progress, brainstorming new ideas, and how to move beyond roadblocks in research. Epidemiologic and statistical principles are reviewed as appropriate to the on-going projects and also to cover basic concepts.

We have computer software available such as Dynamed, S.P.S.S., MD Consult, OVID, Up to Date, and EpiInfo, and access to other Internet sites to assist with the research process. The LGH hospital librarian, an expert in computer-assisted search methods, is paid to assist the residents and faculty in any of their research needs.

Residents are required to have produced a scholarly project as a graduation requirement

The class of 2008 produced a QI/research project supervised by Dean Cleghorn, EdD during their R1 year.

1) The classes of 2009 & 2010 will choose their topics by July 31 2008,

2) To be approved by the research director by August 15th ’08. See Scholarly Project Selection Form

3) Residents are then charged with completion of their projects by 5/31/2009 for the class of 2009; 12/31/2009 for the class of 2010, thenceforward midyear of PGY3.

4) Going forward, the projects will begin as a 2nd year activity.

5) Advisors for the projects will include:

  • Academic advisors +
  • Persons selected by residents for additional assistance
  • Advisors agreement to work with residents indicated by signing scholarly project selection
6) Projects are selected from the following “menu” of choices to fulfill the Residency Research Requirement: NOTE a- g are reproduced on the “back page” of the Project Selection Form.

  1. Original research involving a clear research question, hypothesis, then description of background (including literature review), methods including sample size calculations and statistical power, and the intervention, results, and a discussion including limitations, and conclusion.

  2. Proof of resident’s substantial contribution to the intellectual portion of an ongoing or past project, involving a written description of her role in literature review, design, communication with the IRB, implementation, analysis. This should account for over 20 hours work. The write up should make their role abundantly clear. – 500 words should be sufficient. Written approval is required in order for a resident to use their role in an ongoing or past project to satisfy the RRR.

  3. QI project as in “a” above.

  4. A PEPID or Help desk article done through FPIN. Note, the latter requires a faculty co-author who has done a help desk article, HDA, previously.

  5. Project resulting in a presentation at a state, national or international meeting. Posters count here, and a copy of the abstract or poster should be submitted along with a written explanation of their roles in the project that clearly indicates their contribution (see b above)

  6. Case report – follow guidelines in McCarthy and Reilly Family Med 2003 “How to write a case report” this should be a clinical review with a “point,” that is an uncommon presentation of a common problem, an uncommon presentation of a “dangerous” diagnosis, or a unifying synthesis of potentially disparate symptoms/signs into an organized diagnosis, with treatment plan. (the latter would focus on critical clinical thinking). Case report doesn’t have to be published but should be suitable for same, as judged by residency director and research director. It is hoped that the case report will be presented at noontime case conference.

  7. OR – another project approved by the research director meeting the intellectual and skills goals of the RRR, Residency Research Requirement, i.e., active participation in research and understanding and utilizing basic epidemiology, research design, and analysis.

  8. A forum for resident presentations of their projects will be set up for each spring.

7) A forum for resident presentations of their projects will be set up for each spring.

  1. Original research involving a clear research question, hypothesis, then description of background (including literature review), methods including sample size calculations and statistical power, and the intervention, results, and a discussion including limitations, and conclusion

  2. Proof of resident’s substantial contribution to the intellectual portion of an ongoing project, involving a written description of her role in literature review, design, communication with the IRB, implementation, analysis. This should account for over 20 hours work. The write up should make their role abundantly clear. – 500 words should be sufficient. Written approval is required in order for a resident to use their role in an ongoing project to satisfy the RRR.

  3. QI project as in “a” above

  4. A PEPID or Help desk article done through FPIN. Note the latter requires a faculty co-author who has done a help desk article, HDA, previously.

    1. PEPID, simple response to EBM question for the palm pilot 15-20 hours work. Suitable for students, residents, clinical faculty. 10-15 hours over 8-10 weeks.

    2. Evidence Based Practice – Help Desk Answers (HDAs)A bit longer and suitable for residents, clinical educators, faculty with little time for writing. Also formulaic and based on research form 3-4 pre-determined databases (period). Ten hours over 6-8 weeks. Peer reviewed.

  5. Project resulting in a presentation at a state, national or international meeting. Posters count here, and a copy of the abstract or poster should be submitted along with a written explanation of their roles in the project that clearly indicates their continuation.

  6. Case report – follow guidelines in McCarthy and Reilly Family Med 2003 “How to write a case report” this should be a clinical review with a “point” that is an uncommon presentation of a common problem, an uncommon presentation of a “dangerous” diagnosis, or a unifying synthesis of potentially disparate symptoms/signs into an organized diagnosis, with treatment plan. (the latter would focus on critical clinical thinking). Case report doesn’t have to be published but should be suitable for same, as judged by residency director and research director. It is hoped that the case report will be presented at noontime case conference.

  7. OR – another project approved by the research director meeting the intellectual and skills goals of the RRR, i.e., active participation in research and understanding and utilizing basic epidemiology, research design, and analysis.