Medical education research – a lesson in patience and persistence

Yun Xue, MD and Sherry Yu, MD

Residents in Dermatology Program at MGH

PGY-3

March 20, 2019

Sherry and I are two third-year residents in a combined dermatology program that spans multiple sites across Boston. Training at multiple sites has its own benefits and drawbacks – one of which is that we are constantly interfacing with rotating attendings. We learn a wide variety of practices, but our time is so short with each attending that, often, trust and autonomy is built at a much slower pace than desired. When we conceived of our research project originally, we were setting out to collect data that we had hoped would bring about more resident autonomy.

Through surveying and interviewing our fellow residents, we hoped to provide a narrative of what resident autonomy means, whether resident felt like autonomy varied between the inpatient and outpatient dermatology practice settings, and ways that resident autonomy can be expanded without compromising patient care. We were excited about the prospect of conducting research with a tangible application to our residency but did not foresee the obstacles that have prevented us from getting to the true data collection and analysis.

Our timeline was ambitious to the say the least. The process of submitting the IRB has been a lesson on coordinating meetings with our mentors, waiting for the review process to occur, and underestimating how days could turn into weeks before the next step forward in the process. We are currently still awaiting our IRB approval after submitting rounds of edits. Little distractions have also cropped up along the way that have made a bid for our time: one of us had a baby, the other became chief resident, both of us have made trips across the world and back – all major new responsibilities we had not expected when writing or accepting the grant.

Despite these unanticipated additions to our lives, we remain committed and excited about seeing this project through to the end. Our next steps are making sure the IRB goes through. The good news is that we already have our questionnaire ready because we had to submit that as part of the IRB. Once we have approval to go ahead with the project, we will plan on distributing the questionnaire and hopefully getting some preliminary data to analyze and reflect on before we embark on interviews.

It’s a difficult but also very rewarding project to see a project through from beginning to end. Often, as college and medical students, we are jumping aboard projects that have already had IRB approval and a plan going forth. It feels much more difficult, but also much more rewarding, when you are the one seeing a project through from beginning to end. Every obstacle and every success is felt a little bit more. Research is a marathon and not a sprint, and we are being taught patience and persistence every day.