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BMSA Research Series Part 1 - Introduction to research and a career in Academic Foundation Training

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Summary

This on-demand teaching session is relevant to medical professionals and will provide an informal talk about the speaker's experience of academic work during medical school, as well as guidance on the specialized foundation program and how to apply. The topics discussed include the benefits and challenges of getting involved in research, the different research opportunities available during medical school, how to demonstrate research commitment, and the prospects of a clinical and academic career. Participants will learn how to apply their research experiences to their career progression and be provided with useful tips and advice.

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Description

The Brunei Medical Student's Association (BMSA) is dedicated to fostering a culture of academic excellence and research among medical students. In line with our mission, we propose an engaging and informative online research seminar aimed at providing our members with valuable insights into research opportunities in medicine. This seminar will consist of two parts, with the first part focusing on a talk by a foundation year doctor in the UK who will share their journey in research and offer guidance to medical students on how to get involved in research activities.

Learning objectives

Learning Objectives:

  1. Identify the three criteria to consider when thinking about whether or not to pursue research opportunities.

  2. Describe potential research experiences available to medical students, both curricular and extracurricular.

  3. Describe essential components of a successful research project.

  4. Explain the importance of having a good supervisor when working on a research project.

  5. Identify key steps to take when searching for a research supervisor.

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Computer generated transcript

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The following transcript was generated automatically from the content and has not been checked or corrected manually.

An Fy two doctor um at, at the Queen Elizabeth here in Glasgow. Um So today, I kind of just want to give a fairly kind of informal talk about my experience of academic work during medical school and also uh how to get into the academic foundation program um which is now currently called, called the Specialized Foundation um program here in the UK. So just the to go over the aims for today's presentation. So I can, I want to have um everybody thinking about why you want to get involved in research and how you're going to do it. Um So everybody's research experience is different. So I'll talk a little bit about um my background, the research I've done so far and how I got involved. Um And I know that it's kind of difficult to know what the options are for getting involved in research as a medical student. Um So I'll talk a little bit about the different options. Um And finally, I will give a kind of brief introduction to the specialized foundation program um and give some tips about how to apply and then there'll be AQ and a session at the end. Um, just throughout the session as well, please feel free to put any questions in the chat. I think I'll probably answer them all at the end, but, um, feel free to pop them in as you as they come up. Ok. So just to begin with, um, when thinking about to research or not to research, there's lots of different things that you can consider as a medical student. Um So the benefits of research are that you get to explore topics in much greater detail. You also get to learn new skills that you won't necessarily be taught at medical school. Um You get the opportunity to be collaborative, working with other people, working with um medics, with academics. Um you can work with politicians. It's um I think research is a fantastic opportunity to kind of widen your career choices in that, in that respect as well. Um And generally kind of network within um within medicine. Uh Research is also a very important um way of supporting career progression. So um II wasn't very familiar with the details of specialty training when I was at medical school and it's not something that I think is taught particularly well during medical school. Um but it's something to be aware of. So when you graduate from medical school and you progress onto your foundation training, which is the two year period um after graduating, which I'll talk about a little bit more later on. Um specialty applications quite often look at research that you have completed at medical school and during foundation. So it's really good to get those opportunities in early and get points for applications. Um It is useful to consider the fact that not everything about research is good. Um So research can be very time consuming, it requires a lot of commitment. Um And as medical students, you already have a lot of commitments. Um it's quite self directed and that's definitely something that I've with. Um because a lot of the kind of teaching that you are given at university is relatively well guided and you know, what placements to turn up to, whereas research is very much what you put in is what you get out of it. Um So it requires a lot of organization skills. Um And it can be quite challenging and unpredictable. So particularly if you're looking to publish or present your research, um these things take time and sometimes it takes a lot of kind of persevering to get to where you want to be. Um So I think you can kind of begin to appreciate that all of these things align with either clinical academic or personal goals. So I've just put the these three things on the side here as a reflection tool to help guide any thoughts that you have throughout the presentation, but also going forwards and making decisions about research. It's important to kind of um think about these three things and um I'll talk about them a little bit more later when we um go into applying for the specialized foundation program. Um OK. So this is uh I'm just gonna talk a little bit more about my research journey so far. Um So I've kind of started off from medical school. Um in third year, my first kind of um interaction with research was through a student selected component, which is quite a common part of the curriculum in UK medical schools. And quite often there's a choice to undertake a research SSE. And so I did a four week lab project and then I also did another research SSC which was a six week data collection project. Um At the time, I found it very tedious, probably quite boring to be honest. Um But actually, I spent a lot of time working quite closely with um a registrar in obstetrics who was completing her phd at the time. Uh learn a lot about the thing kind of um the commitment that it takes to undergo a phd alongside clinical work, but also how rewarding it can be at the same time. And because of the work that um that I contributed towards during those six weeks, um I was able to present an abstract at an international conference, which was another really rewarding outcome of doing that. Um So I decided based on kind of those experiences that I would uh intercalate. Um So I did an intercalated BSE in Humanity's Philosophy and Law at Imperial. Um And that was a really exciting opportunity for me to um move to another city. So I moved from Sheffield in the north of England to London. Um And I met lots of new people. Er, so that was a kind of personal motivator for getting involved in research. I think that intercalated BSE S are a really exciting opportunity to learn more about research and take on a self directed project. So a lot of INCL BSE S will require you to complete a dissertation and a viva um And those kind of skills in writing and um research methodology are really important for um getting involved in projects later on in medical school. Um So when I returned to Sheffield, I decided that I would continue uh getting involved with research projects alongside my clinical placements. Um So during this time, I got a group of friends together. Um and we decided to write a um a humanities based medical education paper together. Uh And we actually approached um journal editors to see if they would be interested in publishing this piece. Cos we thought it was pretty good. Um And eventually, we found somebody who was from a peer peer reviewed journal called Teaching and Learning Medicine who was really interested in the work that we were doing. Um and that resulted in a publication for us and then also we have um produced a podcast and a textbook um chapter for the journal. So that was a really um great kind of experience for us to learn a bit more about the world of publishing, um which is um again, very useful skills to have later on when you're applying for specialty training and you're applying for an academic foundation program. Um So I graduated in 2022. Uh and I moved to Glasgow and Scotland um to start the specialized foundation program. So I decided that I wanted to incorporate, incorporate research um into my foundation um training because I'd had a really good experience with it during medical school. Um And I wanted to continue exploring my kind of personal interests um with research at the same time. Um So the f I've been involved in kind of audit projects and Q I projects. Um And it's been really a great opportunity again to move to another city. Um And Glasgow in particular is kind of world leading for um alcohol, public health research, which is what I've been involved in. Um So it's been really exciting to meet lots of new people, academics um and um work on kind of future policies that will impact the local area. Um And then finally, just future goals. So I am hoping to apply for um acute care common stem training program. Um And I'm hoping to kind of create a career um that has mixed clinical and academic with some teaching time as well. Um and I'm hoping as uh to undertake some further studies, so potentially a master's or a phd um in the future. So that's just a little bit about the things I've been involved in. Obviously. Um, these are just some of the things that you can do during medical school and at the start of your training, we'll go into plenty of other options of other things that you can do as well. Ok. So I'm going to talk a little bit more about the opportunities that you can get involved with at medical school. So some of them you'll be familiar with and we've already talked about and some of them might be new. Um So for the purpose of kind of interviews and career progression, I think it's good to think about how you can demons demonstrate your commitment to research through the choices that you make as part of the curriculum as well as going the extra mile um outside of the curriculum. So in terms of curricular things, you've got SSC S and insulated BSE S that we've already spoken about. Um And then extracurricular self ll projects, group projects like the one that I had described and there's also plenty of research societies. So uh um the uh BMS A, so that's AAA really good example of a research society you can get involved in. Um And there's plenty of others as well that you can kind of look at your medical school. OK. So um a little bit more about specifics of how you can get involved in research. So every project should have some kind of supervision and that can be formal or as informal as you like. But it's important that you choose a, a good supervisor to make the project successful. Um So my advice would be not to just pick the first supervisor that comes along. You need to make sure that it's a good fit for your interests and, and make sure that they've got the right skills to support you to complete a project. So you want to be selective. Um It's really important that you're clear and communicative about your aims. So you need to tell a supervisor what you want from the project. Um And we'll, I'll give an example of how to do this on the next slide. Um You need to kind of prove to a supervisor that you're willing to put in the work, um and make sure that they're enthusiastic and supportive with the kind of the workload that the potential project might have. Um But you also have to be aware that it needs to be mutually beneficial. So the project needs to be worth it for the supervisor as well, otherwise they're not going to engage with it as much. Um So potentially you might want to um offer to help with an existing project that they're already doing. Um Just to show that you, you are committed to the topic. Um Another thing that I would recommend is do your research on the supervisor. So actually just do a search, um, to see what they've published recently. Um, and see if that aligns with the sort of things that you would like to be publishing and the kind of the journals that you would aim to publish in because, um, they'll be able to help you and give really good guidance of how to do that. Um So the next slide is just an example of how you might get in touch with a potential supervisor. Um So this is just an email that you could, you know, it's just this kind of suggestion. So for example, if you were on a placement in ICU and you wanted to get involved with research, you might send an email to one of the consultants that you know, is involved in the research um in that department. Er So I'll just read it out. So, um dear doctor, I'm a medical student currently placed in ICU and II and I'm interested in getting involved in a research project. Do you have any ideas or guidance about where to start or any existing projects I can contribute towards? I would ideally like to produce a piece of work with the potential for presenting and publishing. And then let me know if you have any suggestions and the vast majority of consultants and trainees, I think will be really receptive to this kind of request. Um And usually there is, there's things that are going on that you can get involved in, you can help out with if you're not really sure exactly what it is that you want to do. Um If you do have a really good idea of what you want to research, then don't be afraid to propose that. Um And also ask for help if you need it. Um OK, so this slide is to just give you an idea of the different types of research you might want to get involved in. Um And what is going to take up the most time and what's the kind of easy when if you like? Um So in terms of the options, it is quite useful to be familiar with this hierarchy of evidence. Um And recognizing which projects are going to be more valuable. So at the bottom, you've got your kind of um your kind of lowest scientific evidence. So these are probably the easiest things that you can get done quickly. Um So these are things like case reports, opinion papers and letters to the editor. Um And they're kind of shorter pieces that require less time and less vigorous kind of methodology and data collection. So a case report, for example, if you come across an interesting case on a placement, um just ask the consultant if anyone has considered writing a case report and if not, would it be possible for you to write one, sometimes they require ethical approval, particularly um to share any kind of patient details. So you need to make sure that you take consent from the patient. Um But it, it doesn't take too much time. The write up is relatively straightforward. So that's a good one to get involved in. Um And then kind of looking further up um the ladder. So at the top end, it's relatively unlikely that you would be kind of leading a randomized controlled trial yourself. Um But there's always things like that happening at the university. Um So if that is something that you would like to get involved in, again, just ask the consultant or if there's a research trainee, um if they know of any um RCT S that are happening and sometimes you can contribute in a way um just by writing part of the literature review, um or by um simply doing some data collections, there's usually smaller tasks um that are easier to do and it just means that um you can be credited if there is a publication at the end of the project, um you can have your name on the publication or you could present a small dataset. Um So, systematic reviews and meta analyses are the kind of the highest level of evidence. Um But depending on the topic, they can take months and years to complete. So again, you can get involved in kind of smaller aspects of that at medical school and potentially they can be really rewarding or if you are doing an INCL BSE. Um, and you have a whole year to research, that might be something that you want to start early. And maybe by the end of medical school, that's something that you've completed and published. And that's a really kind of valuable piece of work that you've, um, that will contribute to um, a research career. Um So in terms of kind of self directed things, um if you have an idea for a really um for um a research topic, you need to think what type of study um would suit the question. And that's something you can always ask a supervisor as well. Um Because all study types will have publishing potential, but different journals will publish different things. Um So you can have a look on the journal website and see what the guidance is for structure and formatting and submission details. Um and just make sure that you're kind of working towards that from the start. So you don't have to change too much at the end. Um I think another thing with regards to publishing is just to be aware that you can only submit the same piece of work to one journal at a time. And sometimes it takes a the reviewing process, takes a lot of time and um the rejection rate can be quite high. So you want to submit pieces to a journal where you have a realistic chance of being accepted. Um So you don't waste too much time um waiting for an outcome. Uh And that's um something again that a supervisor will be able to help you with. Um So ideally you would have a range of study types. Um But obviously the higher up the triangle, the better. Um OK, so the last little bit about how to get involved, a couple of tips. So just for choosing a project, think about the time commitment, as we've said, think about what existing skills you have already in play to those strengths. Um I think so, for example, I during my integrated BSC was mostly involved in qualitative research. Um And that's something that I've done a lot of since then. Um And, you know, it's been a lot easier for me to do that, but equally, I know, you know, where my weaknesses are and um I'd like to do some more um more research using statistical analysis or caught with quantitative data. So it's just about reflecting um on your own skills and thinking about how you're gonna suit that to a project. Um Always kind of um think about whether or not the project is going to be successful, er, because it's not, you know, you, you've got a lot on your plate already at medical school and particularly at times, uh things can be very stressful and you might be revising for exams or have other things going on and it's difficult to keep a project going if you don't have a good supervisor or good support. Um, so I've just written some red flags here about when like, things to look for, um, which might suggest that a project is not going to work out. Um, so if you originally spoke to a supervisor and they were really enthusiastic, but you haven't heard from them for a few months and perhaps they're ignoring your emails. That's maybe a bad sign that things aren't going to be um completed. Sometimes there are too many people involved with the project and there's less chance that your work will be recognized. Um Maybe you've started a project, but actually you found that you're not that interested in the project anymore and it's ok to um to stop and just say, actually, I'm, I've, I'm going to move on to other things that interest me more. Um But sometimes kind of the opposite and you feel like you are doing too much work towards a project and you haven't got enough time for other aspects of um your medical studies. And that's an, that's an ok reason to step back as well. So just um make sure that throughout the research journey, you're thinking about how things are going, where you want to um get to what your aims and outcomes are and whether or not it, there's a likely chance that you'll get there. Ok. So I'm just gonna talk a little bit more about the foundation program. So in the UK, this, the foundation program is a two year work based training program. Um And you complete it or you start it after you graduate. Um So it's made up of two years. The first year is called um Fy One. And during that year, you're provisionally registered with a medical um license from the GMC. And it's made up of 34 month jobs. And then during the second year, that's your fy two year, you're fully registered and that's again, made up of 34 month jobs. Uh You apply for your foundation program during the final year of medical school and you rank the different locations, hospitals and jobs. Um according to your own preferences, it used to be allocated according to merit. I think that's recently changed. So now it's randomly allocated. Um I don't know how, I don't know how to feel about that. I think it's probably quite scary thinking that, um you know, you could just be randomly sent somewhere but equally. Um you know, it's medical school can be difficult and different people go through different things at different times. So perhaps a merit based allocation is not the fairest way to do it either. Um So yeah, after, after you've um been placed in a hospital or a Deanery for two years and you complete your foundation training, you can either take some time out of training, which a lot of people do. Um Maybe you would like to do a research um year or a clinical fellow year or you can apply for specialty training. Um OK, so that's the standard foundation program in the UK. So the specialized foundation program used to be called the academic foundation program. So this is the program that I chose to do. And there's a couple of differences from the standard foundation program. So it's still a two year work based training program. Fy one is exactly the same. So you still have 34 month clinical jobs. And then during fy two, you have protected time to allow you to carry out your academic work. So the protected time is either give, given as 14 month academic block. So you would have 24 month clinical jobs and one academic block or you would have 34 month jobs and one day a week of academic work. So that's what's offered in Glasgow, which is actually quite unique. So most of them, most of the academic programs offer a four month research block. Um And that was one of the reasons why I specifically chose Glasgow because I wanted to have three clinical jobs and one day off a week for research. Um So we'll talk a little bit more about why you might choose that. Um The specialized foundation program is roughly split into research education or leadership and management. It depends on the deanery. So um in Scotland, it's not, um it's not split particularly um formally. So you apply for the specialized foundation program. And then if you are offered a place, you can choose to spend your time researching, teaching or in leadership and management roles. Um Whereas in other deaneries, you apply specifically for a research foundation program or an education foundation program. So similarly to the standard foundation program, you apply during final year of medical school, but the applications are slightly earlier. Um So I think you apply or you start thinking about applying in September, um you again rank locations, hospitals and jobs. Uh and it is a merit based application with interviews. So it is a little bit more uh competitive and I'll talk a little, I'll talk later on about the things you can do to um to stand out in an application for a specialized foundation program. Um So when you've finished, er, you can, it works exactly the same way. So you can take time out, you can um choose to do more research or you can apply for specialty training. Ok. So just to talk a little bit about the advantages and disadvantages of the S FP so advantages, you get protected time for research, the foundation program can be clinically, very demanding and if you don't have that protected time, it's quite difficult to find it. Um So that's definitely an advantage, a lot of the programs will support you with learning and teaching. Um And also support you with networking and meeting other academics. It's a good career step into academia if that's something that you're interested in. Um and also it provides greater security with your foundation jobs. So if you apply for an S FP and you're successful, you will know where you're working a lot earlier um than your colleagues on the standard foundation program. So you can, you can plan a bit better for moving on if you're moving to a different place after graduating um in terms of disadvantages. So there's less clinical time and that's definitely something to consider um a lot as particularly if there's a four month block of research because that's four months where you will not be doing any clinical work. Um And sometimes you might feel that you're, you've deskilled in terms of your clinical work, there's a limited choice of clinical jobs as well. So for example, you might be interested in neurosurgery and want to have a neurosurgery fy two job, but the S FP program doesn't ha have a, a neurosurgery um job in the rotations. So it's something to think about. If you know that you want specific jobs, the application process is during final year again. So there's a lot going on in final year, you probably have exams. Um and it's just a little bit more work. Uh So that's again, something to think about financial reasons. You get paid less to do a specialized foundation program because you don't get paid for your academic work. Um, you will get paid during your four month block, but it will be unbandage because you're not seen as doing out of hours or on call. Um, like you might be if you had a clinical job and it can be quite unsupported. So it depends on the particular program, but not all of them will offer you structured support. So it is, it is quite self directed. Um OK, so just going back to um the reasons why you might get involved in research and reflecting on um how you might apply for a, a specialized foundation program. So these are just some questions that are useful to ask yourself. So, in clinical, what are the jobs like? Do you think you'll enjoy them? Is there a specific job that you want? So, like we said earlier, you might want a neurosurgery job. Is that there academic reasons? Do you already have a supervisor in mind? Have you already done some work with someone? Uh where do they work? Do they? Is there a specialist center? Um So for example, for me, I had done a lot of work in public health in alcohol policy and Glasgow was a specialist center for that. So that's what drew me to come to Glasgow and um personal reasons. So where do you want to live and work? Have you got a good support network around you? Um I think that's a really important thing to think about because foundation, the foundation program is challenging. Um And like I say, it's, it's clinically demanding. So if you've got friends, you know, people in the area that's um that's definitely something to consider. Um OK, so just uh the last few slides is just about applying to the, to the specialized foundation program. I won't go into this in too much detail because there is a lot of information that is available on the UK FP O website. So if you just Google UK FP O specialized Foundation program, you can see all the details for applying, including deadlines and things as well. Um So like I said, you apply a little bit early, you submit an application via um a website called oral and it's competitive and they'll offer um the offers come out in a Cascade in November and December. Um So you do find out a little bit earlier um the application process. So on top of the kind of usual standard foundation program, you also have to complete some white space questions. So they're just written um questions about yourself. So you need to write about your clinical academic and personal goals within these questions. Um I'd recommend if you're certain that you want to apply for an S FP, just start thinking about these early, you can Google, what the questions are. They, some of them are the same every year and then there's usually one that changes. Um And then supporting evidence. So this is presentations and publications. So if you've already got those, then great, if not over the next couple of years, you might be thinking which one which of these projects can I complete in time to support my application and then interviews as well? Um So the interviews are clinical, half of it's clinical and half of it is talking about research, uh different deaneries, ask different questions and prioritize different things. Um But I would recommend preparing well for an interview, practicing with your friends. Um And there's lots of resources online that can help you prepare for interviews for the S FP. OK. So just to kind of summarize and finish off with a few tips. So research is, it can be really rewarding, but it's not for everyone. So always make sure that you do what you enjoy. It's much, it's much more worthwhile to invest time in something that you're interested in. Um So don't just do something for the sake of it because you'll probably find that you'll get burnt out. Um And it won't be successful if you haven't got a passion there. Um Make sure that you reflect on all of the work that you do. Um I had uh a lot of written reflections on all of the research projects that I um was involved in throughout medical school. And I found this really useful for writing my whitespace questions and applying for the S FP. Um So it's a really useful thing to do. And it also helps you figure out what you enjoy doing and what, what opportunities you want to get involved in um build a kind of broad portfolio from as early on in medical school as you can. So get involved in lots of different opportunities. Um think about an end goal, but don't be afraid to kind of widen the net because you might change your mind in the future. Um Always be creative. Um And like this kind of goes along with doing what you enjoy. Um try and find innovative ways to do things um because a lot of medicine can be very boring and research can be very boring. So try and make it as fun if you can um plan effectively. Uh Like you say, there's a lot of um you have a lot of commitments at medical school. So it's important that you find the time, work out what your goals are and when you're going to complete them and work with others because you can always maximize your output and make life a lot easier if you are um working with other people that are also committed to kind of um the same goals and outcomes. So I think that's everything from me. Um Thank you very much for listening and feel free to ask any questions. Mm Thank you, Doctor Freya for that very comprehensive talk. I'd like to thank you for giving your time this evening to share with everyone an introduction to research as well as a cure in academic medicine here in the UK. And um I'd like to mention everyone again. If there's any questions, please feel free to type it in the Q and A box on the side of the screen. And I, we'll do our best to answer all the questions have been shared with us. So, um for now, I'd like to thank Doctor Freya again and I'd like now to pass the time to NK man to share the w of name so that we can select the winner for the medics code. Perfect. Thank you so much Hong Zen. As stated at the beginning of the event, one of our lucky audiences will be going home with a twelve-month giveaway to geeky medics. So what we will be doing right now is um I will present a wheel of names with those who are eligible from the audience, meaning to say they are members of our association and one of them will be going home with a 12 month access to G medics. So I shall now share my screen. Um Sorry, Doctor Rose. Could you uns share your screen for a bit, please? Thank you. All right, let's see if we can work this out.