Hello Everyone!
I hope everyone is doing well. During the interview day panels, one topic that was frequently brought up was research opportunities. There are many ways to find a research project that is suitable for you. The career services at the college is a great resource, especially as a starting point. Internships are also a great resource.
Currently, I am an intern at Nationwide Children’s Outpatient Pharmacy. Through my internship, multiple research projects are offered with pharmacists in various clinics throughout the hospital. The research projects usually start at the beginning of summer, so that students have sufficient time to complete projects. However, if the research project isn’t completed during the summer, the timeline can be extended.
Along with a fellow P3, I’m currently working on a Quality Improvement Project focused on increasing pneumococcal vaccination rates in Cystic Fibrosis patients seen at Nationwide Children. Although I had no research experience, I felt comfortable with the level of difficulty of the project—including designing a workflow map, a key driver, an algorithm, data collection, etc. It is important that you constantly communicate/ meet with your preceptor to help guide you throughout the different parts of the project.
A lot of the faculty members within the college have projects available as well—another great resource. If there is a project you are interested in working on with a faculty member, there are receptive to opening that opportunity to students—send them an e-mail expressing interest in-order to open that line of communication.
There are various types of research projects, in addition to traditional research. These projects are also provide great opportunities to present at conferences such as OPA (a local conference) and Mid-year (a nation-wide conference). Hope this was helpful in providing information about getting involved with research. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at Nageye.1@osu.edu