As residency-selection criteria evolve in the aftermath of the USMLE Step 1 exam moving to pass-fail scoring, applicants’ research experiences could take on a new level of import.
A study published in the journal Academic Medicine sheds light on the potential importance of research experience among residency applicants. In a survey of 885 residency program directors across 393 institutions, 41% of program directors said they believe that research participation will become more important in determining which applicants to invite for interviews.
“When Step 1 became pass-fail, it took away differentiation among and between students for programs to look at,” said Chadd K. Kraus, DO, DrPH, FACEP, an AMA member and former associate director of an emergency medicine residency program. “Research and scholarship really are the way to potentially add a differentiator that is feasible and practical to accomplish in medical school.”
The AMA helps medical students master the residency-application process so you can make the right decisions about your career, prepare for a knockout interview, explore residency opportunities—all so you can successfully match.
How PDs value research
In determining factors that would lead to interview invitations, clinical performance remains the most important measure to program directors. Letters of recommendation, specialty elective performance and clerkship grades were more important than research in leading to an interview offer for more than half of program director respondents.
Research was found to be of equal importance to other mid-tier criteria such as election to honor societies, leadership roles and service work. In looking at the value of research for possible residency selection, Dr. Kraus said that it can be a proxy for many valuable skills programs look for among applicants.
“It’s really more about the skills that you’re showing in doing that work than the actual product of that work,” said Dr. Kraus, who now works with medical students on the residency-application process.
“A lot of research and scholarly activity is about effective communication, public speaking, doing posters, doing short talks, as well as written communication,” added Dr. Kraus, who is vice chair for research in the Department of Emergency and Hospital Medicine at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Communication skills is probably one of the most important characteristics of a physician and what we look for in residency applicants.”
The study highlighted differences in how program directors view medical student research across specialties, which were categorized into three levels of competitiveness—most competitive, competitive, and least competitive—based on the percentage of first-year residency positions filled by U.S. MD seniors in 2021.
In the most competitive specialties, program directors placed a higher emphasis on research as a factor in extending interview invitations, particularly given the absence of numeric Step 1 scores. In the other two categories, research was valued similarly but did not carry the same increased importance for interviews.
For medical students looking to hone their research skills, the AMA offers resources and programs that bring you from the basics all the way to the AMA Research Challenge where you can compete for a $10,000 prize
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Meaningful research
For the study, published last year, researchers also asked program directors about the types of research that stood out most. More than 71% of respondents replied that they did not value a certain type of research more than others.
Among the 28.7% of residency program directors who indicated they valued a certain type of research more than another, clinical research was most frequently listed as highly valued by 83.7%. Other research areas also frequently highlighted as high value included:
- Quality improvement (62.2%).
- Medical education (51.4%).
- Translational science (50.2%).
- Public or community health (50.2%).
In the era of holistic admission, Dr. Kraus highlighted that residency programs are likely to look for applicants who contributed to scholarly work in a meaningful way. Such contributions to research are not just about outcomes such as publications.
“It’s not necessarily about being the first author on a paper in a very high impact journal, but were you a part of the team that completed something or moved something forward in a project,” he said. “The most meaningful outcome folks are looking for is: Were you engaged in a longitudinal way that allowed you to build your skills?”
When it comes to building research credentials, medical students should start small.
“A minimum threshold of entry is really an abstract or state or regional poster presentation,” he said. “Getting to a state meeting or regional meeting that you could drive to for most students is pretty feasible.”
Dive deeper:
- AMA Research Challenge: How to prepare a research poster
- What you need to know to ace a poster abstract
- Learn about previous Research Challenge winners
- How to get published in medical school and boost your CV
