Resident research in family medicine: where are we now?

Increasing the amount and quality of family medicine research has long been a goal of the specialty. The Future of Family Medicine project endorses the generation of new knowledge and promotes scholarship during residency training. Formal training in the principles of research needs to be initiated early to create the cadre of highly trained researchers that will be required to accomplish this goal. Every family medicine residency graduate should have a working understanding of study design, study conduct, presentation of results, and critical analysis of the medical literature. Teaching these research skills in residency is challenging due to time constraints, funding limitations, varying resident interest, and a relative lack of experienced faculty mentors. This paper reviews the existing literature on teaching research to family medicine residents. Program features consistently associated with successfully promoting resident research include faculty mentors, a formal research curriculum, a forum to present projects, technical assistance, dedicated research time, and funding support.