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knowledge and skills to be a trainee’s primary goal during medical school and residency; further, research activities should not be allowed to compromise the medical education of future independent practitioners. While academic and research skills and experience can be gained at all stages of training and, in fact, are a major emphasis in some specialized training models (e.g., the MD/PhD training model exemplified by the Medical Scientist Training Program funded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the NIH [1]), it is most common for the acquisition of substantive research skills to occur during fellowship training. Nonetheless, research experience during medical school and residency can provide the trainee with important skills and perspective, and help the trainee to evaluate future potential career paths. The intended audience of this chapter is those in clinical training programs (e.g., students obtaining an MD without additional degrees, residents, and clinical fellows). A large majority of the material in the other chapters is relevant regardless of one’s career stage, so this chapter will focus on issues in research that are specific to trainees. There are many considerations related to the identification of a faculty mentor and the design of a trainee’s research experience, so these topics comprise the largest part of this chapter. Execution of the research project and options for formal training in research methodology will also be discussed. TRAINEES AND EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH Heemun Kwok, MD, MS Roger J. Lewis, MD, PhD, FACEP EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH – A PRIMER CHAPTER 6 32 CHAPTER 6 — TRAINEES AND EMERGENCY CARE RESEARCH IDENTIFICATION OF A FACULTY MENTOR AND DESIGN OF A RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Medical students Research can be a valuable addition to the didactic and clinical activities that comprise the bulk of medical education. Despite their relative clinical inexperience, students can contribute significantly to an investigation, and even serve as the lead investigator of a suitably chosen study. There is a wide spectrum of student research experiences, but they can generally be categorized into two types. In the first category, the student’s primary role is to assist with data collection in the clinical research setting. Typical activities include enrolling research subjects in the ED, conducting chart reviews, and performing follow-up for one or more ongoing studies. Students are not necessarily involved in other aspects of the research process, such as study design, analysis, and dissemination of findings, although there are may be opportunities to do so. The expected time commitment can be established clearly, since the quantity of work can usually be defined by some measure (e.g., hours spent in the ED capturing eligible research subjects or number of charts reviewed). Exposure to the clinical and research environments of emergency medicine is valuable for many students, particularly preclinical students. They have an opportunity to work closely with faculty members and identify potential mentors, who can play an important role as students negotiate undergraduate medical education and their transition to residency. However, data collection is arguably the most tedious and least enjoyable aspect of research, and students who are sufficiently motivated may wish to consider a broader research experience with greater autonomy. An independent project typically offers an opportunity to work more closely with a mentor over a longer period of time, to acquire a wider spectrum of research skills, and to experience the intellectual challenges of research. Of course, the student is also more likely to experience the frustrations of research, so this type of project requires greater motivation and commitment. Therefore, students must have a realistic idea of the time that they will be able to dedicate. At a minimum, an independent research project requires three months of dedicated time with additional time during evenings and weekends while on other rotations. Taking a 1-year leave of absence in the middle of medical school to conduct research is an option but is often inadvisable for academic reasons alone, since a year focused on research after one obtains a medical degree will usually provide higher yield. However, we have seen this approach work very well for selected and motivated students. We caution against students undertaking this type of project without having both a strong interest in a research career and sufficient time to devote, because, despite the best of intentions, untold student research projects are never completed, or ultimately require completion by faculty mentors, a situation that may not reflect well on the student. If a student decides to commit to an independent research project, the first step is to identify a suitable mentor. While students should consider their subject area interests, it is more important that they find a suitable and willing faculty mentor to play a formative role in the overall research experience. Therefore, a student should be flexible with regards to subject matter and not underestimate the importance of a mentor who is able to understand the needs of the student (2). The resources that are available to assist with identifying mentors vary according to institution, so we restrict ourselves to a few general comments. Availability 

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