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Impacts of a University Research Assistant Program: The First Decade

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Abstract

Purpose

There is a declining number of physician-scientists. Little is published about the potential for university student experiences to contribute to the pipeline of future researchers. The purpose of this study was to describe a unique university research program and report the outcomes of the first 10 years.

Method

The University Research Assistant Program (URAP) was described including course content, research experiences, and student composition. Outcomes of URAP student contributions to the literature and research presentations was reported. URAP students were also surveyed to assess their perspectives on the impact of the URAP program on career choices after graduation.

Results

URAP began as an independent study course and grew into for-credit university courses. A total of 212 students have taken at least one semester and 88 responded to the survey. All students who participated in URAP have graduated, and 77% (n = 68) reported the URAP program prepared them to reach their career goals. Most graduates pursued health care careers including medical school (55%), Master’s programs in health care (29%), or PhD in health care (5%). URAP students participated in research involving 11 different pediatric subspecialties. Many attained co-authorship of abstracts and publications, 53 first-authored an abstract presentation and 7 manuscripts.

Conclusions

URAP significantly influenced university students who overwhelmingly entered health care fields. While difficult to assess if these early experiences will influence participation as future physician –scientists, these students made meaningful research contributions while enrolled in these courses.

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Availability of Data and Material

Authors can provide the survey data to editor or peer reviewers at any time. Much of the data is presented in the article.

Abbreviations

URAP:

University Research Assistant Program

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the University of Connecticut Honor’s Program for supporting these courses, Sharyn Rusch for her dedication and assistance, the CT Children’s/University of Connecticut emergency department faculty and fellows who provide oversight, daily assistance, and mentoring to the URAP students, and all of the URAP students who have participated in this program.

Funding

The authors have no financial disclosures. No funding was provided to conduct this study. The authors acknowledge: the URAP students who participate in these courses; Sharyn Rusch who provides administrative support for all URAP courses; and the University of Connecticut Honors Program for supporting URAP.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Emergency Medicine, CT Children’s, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Hartford, CT, USA

    Sharon R. Smith

  2. University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Adrienne Nguyen, Kristin Burnham & Arlene Albert

  3. CT Children’s, Hartford, CT, USA

    Danielle Chenard

Authors
  1. Sharon R. Smith
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  2. Adrienne Nguyen
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  4. Kristin Burnham
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  5. Arlene Albert
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Contributions

The author contributions: SR Smith and A Nguyen made substantial contributions to the conception and design of this work, acquisition of data, analyses of data, drafting and revising the manuscript, and the final approval. D Chenard and K Burnham made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work and surveys, acquisition of data, and critically revising the manuscript. A Albert made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the study, drafting and critically revising the manuscript and provided final approval for publication. All authors are accountable for the accuracy and integrity of this work.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sharon R. Smith.

Ethics declarations

Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate

The Connecticut Children’s Institutional Review Board permission was obtained prior to starting the survey portion of this study, permission number 17–157.

Consent for Publication

Not applicable. There is no personal or identifiable information presented.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests. On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

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Sharon R. Smith and Adrienne Nguyen are Co-first authors.

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Smith, S.R., Nguyen, A., Chenard, D. et al. Impacts of a University Research Assistant Program: The First Decade. Med.Sci.Educ. 33, 1139–1146 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-023-01852-6

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