The research rotation: competency-based structured and novel approach to research training of internal medicine residents

We would like to share our experience at Lincoln Hospital, an affiliate of Weill Medical College Cornell University New York, in designing and implementing a successful structured research curriculum based on ACGME competencies taught during a dedicated "research rotation".Since the inception of the research rotation in 2004, participation of our residents among scholarly activities has substantially increased. Our residents increasingly believe and appreciate that research is an integral component of residency training and essential for practice of medicine.Internal medicine residents' outlook in research can be significantly improved using a research curriculum offered through a structured and dedicated research rotation. This is exemplified by the improvement noted in resident satisfaction, their participation in scholarly activities and resident research outcomes since the inception of the research rotation in our internal medicine training program.Graduate medical education in the field of Internal Medicine (IM) in the United States consists of mainly clinical experience and medical education while emphasis on research training is often inadequate or non-existent. The Accreditation Council of graduate medical education (ACGME) requires all accredited Internal medicine residency training programs to ensure that residents participate in scholarly activities as follows: Each program must provide an opportunity for residents to participate in research or other scholarly activities, and residents must participate actively in such scholarly activities [1].In the effort to comply with these requirements, IM residency training programs are left to design the research structure, process and outcome evaluation. In light of varying resources available to the programs, it is not feasible to maintain uniform standards in meeting the research requirement. Inadequate demonstration of residents' scholarly activities is one of the most frequent citations by the ACGME. About 10%