How to make the most of a research project placement as a medical student

Making it specialty specific

Take care to choose a relevant topic if you’re hoping that any resulting publications will support a specialty application. What is considered relevant varies by specialty. Taking cardiology for instance, NHS England lists “relevant publications” as desirable at specialist training year four recruitment. Similarly, the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland award points for “specialty publications” for appointment to higher specialist training in cardiology. Other specialties are far stricter. For application to basic specialist training, the Irish College of Ophthalmologists only awards half points for non-ophthalmic publications versus a full point for relevant publications. NHS England cites evidence of involvement in a project that “demonstrates an interest in, and commitment to the specialty beyond the mandatory curriculum” as desirable at specialist training year one (ST1) ophthalmology recruitment. Although any research project will be valuable in giving you a taste of academia and enabling you to develop …