Journal of Regional Medical Campuses

“Don’t I need research to get a residency?” Incorporating scholarly activity at a regional campus

Alexis M. Ruppel

Medical College of Georgia

Theresa M. Rohr-Kirchgraber

Medical College of Georgia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/jrmc.v7i2.5676

Keywords: Scholarly activites, research opportunities, pass-fail, regional campus research

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Abstract

The impact of Step 1 becoming pass-fail is yet to be known. Many believe the value and power of scholarly activity will increase across specialties, but opportunities for such activities differ across universities and even between campuses. At the Augusta University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, a regional campus of the Medical College of Georgia, we hoped to better understand our students' current scholarly activity production and their reasoning behind pursuing these activities. Student surveys indicated that the three highest specialties of interest were primary care-based; students, on average, had one or two poster presentations and one or fewer manuscripts published in medical school thus far. The top reasons to pursue research were the transition of Step 1 to pass-fail, interest in a competitive specialty, and the encouragement of mentors. We hope by understanding our current medical students, we can further cater to their needs through the creation and implementation of new scholarly activity opportunity initiatives.