PHYSIATRIC RESEARCH FELLOWS PERCEPTIONS OF THE QUALITY OF THEIR TRAINING

A survey was conducted to evaluate the physiatric research fellowship training. A 22-item questionnaire was sent to the 42 identified physia trists who had completed at least a 1-yr research fellowship. Twenty-n ine of these individuals (69 %) responded. The physiatrists, all of wh om have completed their research fellowships, uniformly cited competen t faculty research mentors as being critical, even if they were not in the same department. Having protected research time as well as a rese arch didactic program and journal club were highly rated issues. The t rainees preferred a 2-yr fellowship that also stressed initiation of t heir own research, grant writing and management experience, and first authorship on research papers. We conclude that the majority of the re search fellows agree on what are important issues with respect to thei r training.