Unlocking Research Opportunities in Med-Peds Residency: A Guide

Why Research Matters in Med-Peds Residency

Medicine-Pediatrics (Med-Peds) residency uniquely positions you at the intersection of internal medicine and pediatrics. That dual perspective is powerful not only in clinical care, but also in scholarship. Research during residency can feel optional—especially when you are drowning in notes and night shifts—but it is one of the most strategic investments you can make in your career.

For Med-Peds residents, research is important because:

• It expands your career options
  Whether you’re eyeing fellowship (e.g., cardiology, ID, heme/onc, endocrinology), a clinician-educator role, primary care, or public health, a research foundation strengthens your application and future opportunities.

• You sit at a crossroad of age spans and systems
  Med-Peds physicians are uniquely positioned to study transitions of care (peds to adult), chronic, rare, and complex diseases across the lifespan, and health systems questions that span departments.

• It builds transferrable skills
  Critical appraisal, data interpretation, quality improvement, leadership, and writing are essential whether or not you ultimately build a research-heavy career.

• It helps you stand out in the medicine pediatrics match and beyond
  If you’re still a student, demonstrating research interest in Med-Peds–relevant areas can distinguish your application. As a resident, continued scholarship can later differentiate you for jobs or fellowships.

Research during residency does not have to mean running a randomized clinical trial. It can include:

• Clinical research (retrospective chart reviews, prospective cohorts)
• Quality improvement (QI) and patient safety projects
• Medical education research
• Health services and implementation science
• Community-based and population health research
• Case reports and case series

The key is choosing meaningful, manageable resident research projects aligned with your time, mentorship, and long-term goals.

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Understanding Research Opportunities in Med-Peds Residency

Every Med-Peds program handles research differently. Some have an academic residency track with dedicated research time; others offer flexible electives, while a few might have minimal built-in structure but ample informal opportunities.

Common Types of Resident Research Projects

Below are high-yield types of projects Med-Peds residents commonly undertake, with brief examples tailored to the Med-Peds lens.

1. Clinical Research

   • Retrospective chart review
     Example: Outcomes of adolescents with type 1 diabetes transitioning from pediatric to adult endocrinology within your health system.
   • Prospective cohort or registry
     Example: Tracking hospital readmissions in young adults with sickle cell disease across pediatric and adult services.
   • Comparative effectiveness
     Example: Evaluating different asthma care pathways in adolescents admitted to adult vs pediatric units.

2. Quality Improvement (QI) and Patient Safety

   QI is often the most accessible way to begin research during residency, because:

   • It aligns directly with clinical workflow.
   • Many programs have departmental QI initiatives needing resident involvement.
   • Projects can realistically be completed within 6–18 months.

   Med-Peds-specific QI examples:

   • Increasing rates of completed transition readiness assessments for adolescents with chronic disease.
   • Improving vaccination rates in young adults with congenital heart disease seen in adult clinics.
   • Reducing 30-day readmissions for adults with cystic fibrosis followed by both pediatric and adult teams.

3. Medical Education Research

   Med-Peds residents often serve as bridges between departments and are natural educators.

   Examples:

   • Evaluating a new curriculum on adolescent medicine for internal medicine residents.
   • Studying the impact of simulation training on residents’ confidence managing pediatric codes on adult wards.
   • Creating and assessing an interprofessional transition-of-care workshop for residents and nurses.

4. Health Services, Population Health, and Public Health Research

   These projects are especially relevant in Med-Peds as you see social determinants of health from early childhood into adulthood.

   Examples:

   • Studying continuity of care and health outcomes in youth with autism spectrum disorder as they age out of pediatric services.
   • Evaluating access to primary care for young adults aging out of foster care.
   • Analyzing emergency department utilization in young adults with complex chronic conditions.

5. Case Reports and Case Series

   Perfect for residents starting out or those with limited time.

   Med-Peds-relevant ideas:

   • Rare congenital conditions in adults (e.g., adults with Fontan physiology) and their pediatric origins.
   • A previously pediatric-only disease manifesting in adulthood due to improved survival.
   • Unique presentations of systemic diseases that cut across age boundaries.

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Getting Started: Planning Your Research During Residency

Planning is the single most important factor that determines whether a research project succeeds during residency. Residents are busy; time is fragmented; rotations change monthly. A well-structured plan prevents your project from stalling.

Step 1: Clarify Your Goals

Start by asking yourself:

• Do I want a research-heavy career, or do I simply need exposure and a few products?
• Am I aiming for a subspecialty fellowship where research is highly valued?
• Am I more interested in education, QI, global health, or community medicine?

Your answers help shape:

• The type of project (e.g., QI vs clinical research vs education research)
• The scale of the project (case report vs multi-year cohort)
• The mentor you should seek (clinician-scientist vs QI leader vs educator)

Example:
You’re a PGY-1 Med-Peds resident considering adult cardiology fellowship. Your program has an adult congenital heart disease clinic. A realistic goal might be: “Complete at least one first-author abstract and manuscript on outcomes in adults with congenital heart disease by the end of residency.” That leads naturally to a Med-Peds–aligned clinical research or QI project.

Step 2: Find the Right Mentor(s)

Good mentorship is crucial, especially in Med-Peds where projects often span departments.

Consider:

• Dual mentors: One from internal medicine, one from pediatrics, especially for transition-of-care or lifespan projects.
• Mentor track record:
  • Have they published with residents before?
  • Do they respond reliably to emails?
  • Are they familiar with IRB/QI processes?
• Personality fit:
  • Do they respect your schedule and limits?
  • Do you feel comfortable asking “basic” questions?

Where to find them:

• Med-Peds program leadership (PD, APD, chief residents)
• Division research directors (e.g., peds heme/onc, adult ID)
• Your institution’s Med-Peds or transition clinics
• Departmental research or QI offices

If your institution has an academic residency track, explore it early. These tracks often come with:

• Protected research time
• Formal mentorship structure
• Coursework in statistics or research methods
• Built-in expectations and deadlines

This structure can be especially valuable in Med-Peds, where you might otherwise get pulled in different directions between departments.

Step 3: Choose a Feasible Project

Mistakes residents commonly make:

• Picking a project that’s too large to finish in 3–4 years.
• Starting a prospective trial requiring large sample sizes and long follow-up.
• Designing complex analyses without local statistical or data support.

Aim for:

• A well-defined question
  Example: “Among youth with type 1 diabetes transitioning from pediatric to adult care within our system, what is the rate of loss to follow-up within 12 months, and which factors are associated with it?”

• Concrete, time-limited methods

  • Single-center study
  • One to two years of retrospective data
  • Clearly identified outcomes (e.g., HbA1c change, hospitalizations)

• Early wins

  • A poster at your local research day or national Med-Peds conference.
  • A case report submitted in PGY-1 or PGY-2 while larger projects mature.

Rule of thumb:
If your project absolutely requires more than 18–24 months of continuous data collection to produce a presentable result, strongly reconsider or scale it down.

Step 4: Understand Institutional Requirements (IRB, QI, etc.)

Early in the process, clarify:

• Does your project require IRB approval or is it QI-only?
• Are there institutional pathways to speed QI approval?
• What training (e.g., CITI, human subjects protection) is mandatory?

For example:

• A retrospective chart review to be published generally requires IRB oversight.
• A local QI project may fall under institutional QI processes and not require full IRB review, depending on your institution and intent to publish. Always verify.

Being proactive saves months of delays.

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Balancing Clinical Duties with Research: Strategies That Work

The biggest barrier to research during residency is time. Med-Peds schedules can be particularly complex as you alternate between medicine and pediatrics blocks, ICU months, ambulatory rotations, and night float.

Use Your Rotation Schedule Strategically

Plan your research timelines around your calendar:

• High-intensity rotations (ICU, wards, night float)

  • Focus: small tasks—literature reading, drafting introduction, simple data cleaning, short emails.
  • Expect minimal progress beyond 1–2 hours per week.

• Moderate-intensity rotations (electives, ambulatory, consults)

  • Focus: data analysis, writing major sections of manuscripts, building presentations.
  • Target 3–5 hours per week.

• Dedicated research or academic blocks (if available)

  • Focus: heavy lifting—IRB applications, full data extraction, intensive rewriting, preparing submissions.
  • Aim for 8–15 hours per week, depending on duty-hour policies and rotation setup.

Practical approach:

• At the start of each block, identify:
  • 1–2 realistic research tasks
  • One meeting with your mentor (even 30 minutes)
• Update your project timeline monthly.

Protect Your Time—Proactively

Concrete tactics:

• Schedule a recurring 1–2 hour weekly “research meeting” with yourself on your calendar, treated like a clinic appointment.
• Work in focused sprints (25–45 minutes of deep work), especially on lighter days off call.
• Use templates:
  • Data extraction templates (Excel, REDCap)
  • Manuscript skeletons (IMRAD structure)
  • Standardized email formats for co-authors and collaborators.

If your program has an academic residency track or research requirements, ask explicitly:

• “Are there protected half-days I can use consistently for this project?”
• “How does the program ensure residents on academic tracks are not pulled repeatedly into service coverage?”

Collaborate and Delegate Smartly

Med-Peds residents are natural collaborators; leverage that:

• Partner with a co-resident who can share:
  • Data collection
  • Literature search
  • Poster preparation
• Involve medical students, especially if you need help with data entry or literature review. This can become a mentorship experience for you and an opportunity for them.

Always be clear about:

• Roles and responsibilities
• First authorship and co-authorship
• Timelines and communication norms

Put these expectations in writing (even as a simple email recap) to prevent misunderstandings later.

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Maximizing the Impact of Your Med-Peds Research

Completing a project is only part of the story. Dissemination and reflection are what convert “a project I did once” into enduring career capital.

Aim for Tangible Scholarly Products

Try to leave residency with, at minimum:

• 1–2 first-author abstracts (posters or oral presentations)
• 1 first-author manuscript (case report, brief report, original article, or QI publication)
• 1–3 co-authored works from team projects

For those on an academic residency track or strongly research-oriented career path, your targets may be higher (e.g., 3–5 publications, multiple national presentations).

Outlets to consider:

• Med-Peds–focused venues
  • National Med-Peds organizations and their annual meetings
  • Journals that publish Med-Peds and transition-of-care work
• Specialty-specific conferences
  • Pediatric, internal medicine, and subspecialty society meetings
• Institutional research days
  • Resident and fellow research symposia
  • Departmental QI and safety conferences

Showcase the Med-Peds Perspective

Your dual training is an asset. When framing projects and presentations, explicitly highlight the Med-Peds angle:

• Emphasize care across the lifespan:
  • “From pediatric ICU to adult wards: continuity gaps in…”
• Highlight transition-of-care challenges:
  • “Lost in transition: follow-up patterns of young adults…”
• Underscore systems-level insights:
  • “A Med-Peds lens on aligning pediatric and adult clinical pathways for…”

These perspectives can be compelling for journals, conferences, and future employers or fellowship directors who value someone comfortable crossing traditional boundaries.

Build a Coherent Narrative for Fellowship or Job Applications

As you approach the end of residency:

• Reflect on your body of work:

  • What themes emerge? (e.g., chronic disease transitions, health disparities, medical education, QI)
  • How does your Med-Peds identity shape your scholarly interests?

• Craft your personal statement and CV around those themes:

  • Explain how your research informs your clinical and career goals.
  • Highlight how dual training allowed you to identify problems others miss.

• Be specific about next steps:

  • How do you plan to continue your research during fellowship or early faculty years?
  • What skills or further mentorship do you need?

Even if you decide not to pursue a heavily research-focused career, the ability to describe your projects clearly—problem, methods, results, impact—is impressive and persuasive.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

1. Overcommitting to multiple projects

   • Risk: Everything progresses slowly; nothing gets finished.
   • Strategy: Prioritize 1–2 primary projects and treat others as secondary or supporting roles.

2. Lack of clear timelines

   • Risk: IRB applications languish; data never gets analyzed.
   • Strategy: Create a shared timeline document with milestones (IRB submission, data complete, abstract deadline, manuscript draft).

3. Poor communication with mentors

   • Risk: Misaligned expectations, missed authorship opportunities, delayed feedback.
   • Strategy: Recap each meeting with a brief email outlining decisions and your next steps.

4. Delaying dissemination until PGY-4

   • Risk: Scrambling near graduation; lost opportunities for presentations and publications.
   • Strategy: Aim for your first poster by the end of PGY-2, and your first manuscript submission by mid-PGY-3.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. How early should I start research during a Med-Peds residency?

Ideally, start exploring and networking in PGY-1:

• Use your early rotations to:
  • Identify potential mentors in both medicine and pediatrics.
  • Attend division or departmental research meetings.
  • Ask senior residents about their projects.

Aim to:

• Select a primary project and mentor by late PGY-1 or early PGY-2.
• Have IRB/QI approval and early data work underway by mid-PGY-2.
• Present a poster or abstract by late PGY-2 or early PGY-3.

Starting early also gives you time to pivot if a project stalls.

2. Is research required to match into a Med-Peds residency or to get a good fellowship afterward?

For the medicine pediatrics match, research is not strictly required, but it can:

• Demonstrate curiosity and commitment to academic medicine.
• Help your application stand out at research-oriented programs.
• Show alignment with Med-Peds themes, such as chronic disease across the lifespan.

For fellowships, especially competitive subspecialties (e.g., cardiology, GI, heme/onc, ID), research is often a significant plus—and sometimes an informal expectation, particularly at academic centers. Strong fellowship applications typically include:

• At least one or two scholarly products (posters, publications).
• Clear description of your role in the project.
• A coherent narrative connecting your research to your career goals.

3. What if my residency program has limited research infrastructure?

You still have options:

• Seek out Med-Peds attendings or dual-trained faculty who often have ongoing projects.
• Explore QI projects, which are frequently more accessible than full-scale clinical research.
• Leverage multi-site collaboratives (e.g., national Med-Peds networks or subspecialty research groups) that welcome resident involvement.
• Use online tools and external mentors (e.g., through national Med-Peds organizations) for project guidance, analysis, or writing support.

If formal data support is scarce, consider:

• Case reports or small case series.
• Survey-based projects with careful design.
• Education projects that can be implemented locally and analyzed with basic statistics.

4. How do I decide between a research-focused academic residency track and a more clinically focused path?

Consider:

• Your long-term career vision:
  • If you see yourself as a clinician-investigator, division chief, or academic leader, an academic residency track with more research during residency can be highly beneficial.
• Your appetite for scholarship:
  • Do you enjoy asking questions, reading literature, analyzing data, writing and revising? Or does research feel purely instrumental for applications?
• Program structure and support:
  • Does your Med-Peds program truly protect research time and offer mentorship and statistical support on the academic track, or is it nominal?

You can also:

• Start with a few smaller projects during PGY-1 and PGY-2.
• Reassess before committing to more intensive research blocks in PGY-3 or PGY-4, once you understand what you enjoy and how you function within the system.

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Research during residency in Medicine-Pediatrics is not about checking a box; it is about learning to ask better questions, generate answers, and translate those answers into improved patient care across the lifespan. With thoughtful planning, mentoring, and a realistic project scope, you can build a meaningful scholarly portfolio—even amid the demands of a Med-Peds schedule—and open doors to a wide range of fulfilling career paths.