Research in Orthopedic Practice

Background
Scholarly activity is encouraged at all orthopedic surgery training levels. Orthopedic surgery residencies universally have research requirements that must be met prior to graduation, with some programs offering a research year. It remains to be investigated whether the research year affects future academic productivity or practice setting.
The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a dedicated research year during residency on scholarly activity following training.
Methods
IRB approval was granted and a survey was sent out to graduates of the residency program in September 2024. The survey asked questions regarding their post-residency scholarly activity and type of practice. The survey also asked whether completing the research year or not made them more likely to pursue academics. For all alumni, number of publications and current practice setting were found through an online search.
Results
There were 32 survey respondents (39% response rate), and 82 alumni total whose data were collected. There were no significant differences between categorical and research residents in terms of practice location, publication number, practice setting, nor inclination to conduct research.
Conclusion
In a cohort of research and categorical alumni, completion of a research year did not significantly affect future scholarly activity or practice setting. Sample size and the community setting of the program may have been limitations. Another factor which remains to be studied is whether there is a temporal relationship between years out of practice and publications per year. This may affect whether recency bias impacts research immediately following training.