Association of a Biweekly Research Workgroup With Enhanced Resident Research Productivity

Almost all residency programs require a resident research project, yet teaching and mentoring of the required skills are often lacking. We established an every-other-week gynecologic oncology research workgroup at our institution for obstetrics and gynecology faculty, fellows, and residents with the goal of increasing resident research education, involvement, and productivity. An informal, discussion-style format was adopted as a forum for brainstorming research ideas, formulating study protocols, and collaborating on institutional review board submissions. Additional aims included editorial feedback on abstracts and manuscripts as well as oral presentation preparation. The academic productivity of trainees mentored by the gynecologic oncology division was queried for 27 months before and 27 months after workgroup initiation, specifically assessing resident involvement in institutional review board submission, abstract presentation, and manuscript preparation. Institution of our workgroup was associated with a dramatic increase in resident research output, including manuscript preparation and presentations at national meetings. We describe our experience because it may benefit other residency programs wishing to improve both resident research education and productivity.