Assessment of the "scholarly project" requirement for emergency medicine residents: report of the SAEM Research Directors' workshop. SAEM Research Directors' Interest Group.

OBJECTIVES: Differences in interpretation of the residency review committee (RRC) directive concerning resident scholarly activity have resulted in inconsistencies in the practical fulfillment of this responsibility among the various training programs in emergency medicine. During a workshop organized by the SAEM Research Directors' Interest Group (RDIG), a consensus statement was developed regarding the scope, definition, and purpose of the scholarly project requirement.
METHODS: During the workshop, the NIH model of consensus building was used to develop statements pertaining to specific questions of the goals, definition, and endpoints of the scholarly project. The program consisted of an overview of the history and issues related to the scholarly project and presentations of varying viewpoints from interested parties. A final consensus of answers to the defined questions was then developed by the workshop participants during roundtable discussions and further refined through interactive debate using the RDIG e-mail list server.
RESULTS: By consensus it was agreed that the primary role of the scholarly project is to instruct residents in the process of scientific inquiry, to teach problem-solving skills, and to expose the resident to the mechanics of research. To realize these goals, the project should include the general elements of hypothesis formulation, data collection, analytic thinking, and interpretation of results. It was also thought that these elements should be documented in some written form with a literature review.
CONCLUSIONS: While each residency program must implement the RRC residency requirements in a manner that best suits the needs and culture of its individual environment, a concurrence of definition and approach to satisfying the scholarly project requirement would provide better consistency in resident training. Guidelines developed by consensus during the SAEM RDIG workshop may serve as a general recipe that can be used to fulfill the goals of the scholarly project and the spirit of the RRC directive.