RESEARCH IN PEDIATRIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMS

Background and Objectives. We have required residents in pediatrics at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation to give research presentations since 1989; this article reviews our experience with this program. Additiona lly, we sought to determine how many other accredited pediatric progra ms in the United States also require this. Methods. Retrospective revi ew of the Cleveland Clinic program; descriptive statistics of other Un ited States residency programs, obtained by questionnaire. Results. Pe diatric residents at the Cleveland Clinic have given 108 research pres entations since 1989, and have developed 33 (30.5%) of them into manus cripts or abstracts. We mailed questionnaires to 215 pediatric residen cy program directors and received responses from 177 (82%). Of these, 48 (27%) indicated their programs had a research requirement; resident s could present their findings in departmental meetings or submit an a bstract or manuscript to a professional society or journal. Respondent s cited several barriers to research: residents are too busy, there ar e too few faculty members to mentor them, financial resources are limi ted, and there is no residency review committee requirement. Conclusio ns. Even though only approximately one fourth of the pediatric residen cy programs in the United States require research, we feel it is worth while experience. Despite barriers, residents can and do perform resea rch and publish their findings.