Transitioning from Project to Publication: Ensuring Success!

1. Transitioning from Project to Publication: Ensuring Success! Jill Rebuck, Pharm.D., BCPS, FCCM, FCCP Director of Clinical Pharmacy Practice & Residency Program Director Lancaster General Health - Lancaster, PA jarebuck@lancastergeneral.org

2. The Process Starts BEFORE the Residency Begins…

3. “Inventory” Your Preceptors • Who is best to guide major project during the year? • Not always the Program Director

4. Ideas, Ideas, Ideas…Early! Defining the research question is key • Feasible • Interesting to the investigator • Novel • Ethical • Relevant Cummings SR, et al. Designing Clinical Research 1988

5. Residents Arrive: Day ? of 365 • Share potential ideas with residents early • Do not require resident to complete project of no interest • Foster their ideas, if any You will do this project!

6. After Resident Review of Ideas… • Rank top choices, resident to describe why projects are of interest • Ensure “good fit” of project & resident • Final selection of specific project

7. Develop A Timeline

8. Study Collaboration Enhances Successful Project Patients Pharmacists Physicians Resident Technicians Students Nurses Administrators Resp. Therapists Dieticians

9. Study Methods • Formulate a hypothesis • “There is no difference in conversion to NSR between Drug A & Drug B in post-surgical patients” • Identify primary & secondary objectives • % Patients who successfully convert to NSR during therapy with Drug A • Time to NSR cardioversion • Most effective dose of Drug A for conversion & maintenance of NSR

10. The Dreaded Word: Statistics • Not applicable to all residency projects • Involve someone knowledgeable in statistics if available • Know how data are best expressed before collected • Express final data in appropriate form

11. Manuscript Preparation You will never regret completing your project early!

12. Key Manuscript Components • Title • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion

13. Key Manuscript Components • Title • Abstract • Introduction • Methods • Results • Discussion • Conclusion Start writing early (not June 30, 2010) Section-by-Section Share drafts with co-investigators

14. What’s In A Title? “Reader Appeal” • Retrospective use of ICU sedation or 2) Sedative patterns in the critically ill or 3) Does choice of sedation influence outcome in the critically ill surgical patient?

15. Abstract • More readers glance at the abstract than any other section of the paper • MOST readers NEVER read paper, just abstract • Wait until rest of manuscript is written to complete abstract • Be certain your conclusion is supported by data provided

16. Introduction • Avoid summary of well-known topic • 1 or 2 focused paragraphs • Why is this topic important? • What background information is critical? • Get reviewers & eventual readers excited • 1 page double-spaced maximum

17. Methods Section • Study design • Type of institution & patient population • IRB approval • Data collection methods • Study-specific definitions • Statistical analysis • Easiest section of manuscript to write!

18. Results • Maximize use of tables & figures • Do not repeat data already presented in illustrations in the text • Ensure data are expressed correctly • Evaluate for normal data distribution • Mean ± SD • Median (range or IQR)

19. Discussion • Difficult section of paper to write • Prepare outline in advance of pertinent discussion points • First paragraph should answer “Why is this paper unique, different, important, etc. compared to published literature” • Length varies depending on journal & study design

20. This Approach Works! PGY1 and PGY2 residents have… • Received national awards for quality projects • Published feature articles in medical journals • Published successfully in pharmacy journals • AJHP, Pharmacotherapy, Annals of Pharmacotherapy, etc • Gained in-depth understanding of the entire process

21. Concluding Remarks • Residency training is demanding • Quality research is challenging yet fun! Thank you