POM3 Project
One of the goals of the student project is to allow you to use your curiosity about medicine and health to reflect on a question that you are interested in answering. This question can be related to a variety of areas that you be interested in: patient care, patient education, ethics, medical education, economics of medical practice, use of computers or advanced technology, alternative medicine, basic science research, etc. Projects will be completed by the fourth year, though there are several mileposts during this year and next year that must be met.
A second goal of the student project is to help senior students with the career decision
process. We encourage students to pick a project and mentor in their potential field of interest. The mentor can thus serve not only as a supervisor for the project, but also as a career advisor and/or potential author of letters of recommendation. We hope that work on the project would also serve as highlights on a CV and/or topics for conversation during residency interviews. Bringing a copy of your paper to your residency interviews is an effective strategy for standing out among your peers. You should plan to be far enough along on your project that your mentor can write a letter for you about the
project to include with your residency application. Since many of you have not yet decided upon a choice for residency and will need significant time to do a high quality project, the final project will not be due until February of your 4th year. Though we do not expect that every 3rd year student will perform a randomized controlled trial that is published in the New England Journal Medicine, it is our hope that students will put a substantial amount of time into projects of interest that would result in some end-product. Projects could be used as poster at a scientific meeting (such as Research Day at GW which occurs each Spring) or possibly even a publication. Thus, the requirements for the project have been left purposefully vague.
You must meet all deadlines and produce something tangible to show you have met the requirements. However, what you get out of the project is directly proportional to how much time and effort you put into it. Potential projects include, but are by no means limited to:
Substantial review of the literature in a specific topic
Assisting with an ongoing research project
Original research in basic or clinical science, clinical trial
Case report and review of the literature
Educational research or curricular innovation
Developing a community service project or program.
1. You will need to identify a faculty mentor in a clinical or basic science area you are interested in that will provide guidance for your project. The best place to start is with faculty in a department you are interested in working with. Someone in that department should know who the best person to speak with would be.
2. You will need to state your question and review the current literature. Determine from articles you read whether your question has been answered to your satisfaction, if so, what questions remain on the topic? How could they be answered?
3. The hardest step is to actually do a project or study.
Finally, any original research involving human subjects must be approved by the GW Institutional Review Board (IRB).
This project is a requirement and to receive full credit you must adhere to deadlines.
1. 2/15/12. Research Topic Form is due. Click HERE to get to the Research Topic Form. You will need the following mentor information: name, mentor's type of practice, address, phone number and email, as well as your research topic.
2. 6/15/12. Project Outline is due. This is an outline stating the questions you are trying to answer, the aims of your project and what you plan to do. Please email your outline to Johnathan Kirk at msdjrk@gwumc.edu
3. 2/15/13. Project is due. You need to turn in a signed mentor project form (located in the files section of the POM3 website or below) along with your actual project. Please submit to Johnathan Kirk at msdjrk@gwumc.edu