Sustainable Curriculum to Increase Scholarly Activity in a Family Medicine Residency

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Scholarly activity (SA) is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirement for family medicine residency programs. Engaging residents in scholarly activity can be challenging. In 2010, the Naval Hospital Jacksonville Family Medicine Residency (NHJ FMR) program pioneered a research curriculum that dramatically increased resident SA output. The purpose of this study was to determine whether this output sustained over time. METHODS: A retrospective records review was performed on resident SA at the NHJ FMR program between academic years 2012-2013 to 2016-2017 (N=185). The following research curriculum interventions were implemented over academic years 2010-2012: a faculty research coordinator position, a scholarly activity point system, and a peer-driven resident research coordinator position. SA output was calculated based on total resident projects per year and "quality projects" or peer-reviewed projects per year. Regression analysis and Mann-Whitney U test tested nonparametric group comparisons. RESULTS: The number of quality projects per resident per year increased from 0.34 in 2012-2013 to 1.05 in the 2016-2017 academic year. The quality projects per resident per year demonstrated a statistically significant increase over time (F(1,9)-18.98, P<.005, R2 of 0.6784). When comparing preintervention years to postintervention years the average quality projects per resident was statistically significant (P<.005). CONCLUSIONS: This curriculum model emphasizes unique and reliably sustainable interventions to increase scholarly output that can be implemented at any residency program. SA volume and quality increased over 5 postintervention years despite annual resident research coordinator turnover. This research demonstrates a resident-driven culture change that warrants future research on adaptability to other programs.