Tareq Kheirbek, MD ScM FACS
In this section we will provide educational material related to study design, analysis, and interpretation. We will also keep track of the projects that PGY2 and PGY3 residents are working on.
The outcome project in the past felt like a checkbox that residents felt compelled to finish somehow, and most suffered in the process. We aim to change this. In my opinion, there are two objectives for this exercise:
- Understand basics of study design and analysis – Some of you might pursue academic career and be involved in clinical research. It is important to be able to approach this scientifically. I think it is best to start simple. Ask a simple question. Explore a simple relationship. Then expand it to learn how to control for confounders and interpret your results effectively. Let’s contribute to the few good articles out there, not the majority of bad research!!
- Develop skills to read and interpret scientific evidence. Some of you might not want to pursue an academic career and will never design a study. A close old colleague of mine has always been big on research and recently he told me he was done. He wanted to be a good clinical surgeon. No more study design and IRBs and attempts to get funding. That is totally OK! Most of surgeons ought to be clinical after all. But guess what?! In order to be a good clinician you need to be able to read the literature appropriately and differentiate between good and bad research. I stopped reading abstracts long time ago. I am more interested in the methodology of a study to see if it can be any helpful in my practice. This exercise hopefully will help you learn the basics you need to appraise a study scientifically and be able to independently make a clinical decision in the future.
If you need more one-on-one discussion of your idea or your approach I will be happy to meet with you. Text or email me to find a time that works.