Howard C. Bauchner has a deep connection with Boston: He was trained at BU School of Medicine and returned to work at Boston City Hospital, the forerunner of Boston Medical Center, in 1986. He said that his experiences in the local medical and research community would influence him when he moves to Chicago to take the reins at the Journal of the American Medical Association this summer.Moe here:
BU press release
“Our group has focused on improving the health and well-being of disadvantaged children through clinical care, research, and advocacy,” said Bauchner. “It has been my privilege to work with this extraordinary group of clinician investigators.”
Some recent publications:
Research during pediatric residency training: outcome of a senior resident block rotation.
Vinci RJ, Bauchner H, Finkelstein J, Newby PK, Muret-Wagstaff S, Lovejoy FH Jr.
Boston Medical Center, Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, 818 Harrison Ave, Boston, MA 02118, USA. Abstract
BACKGROUND: The Pediatric Residency Review Committee requires programs to provide a curriculum that advances residents’ knowledge of the basic principles of research. In July 2002, the Boston Combined Residency Program instituted a 3-month career-development block (CDB) rotation. During the rotation residents pursue an academic or clinical project under mentorship by a faculty member.
OBJECTIVE: Our objective for this study was to evaluate the outcome of the CDB rotation since it was implemented.
METHODS: A survey was administered to 165 residents who completed the CDB rotation.
RESULTS: Of 165 residents, 136 (82%) responded to the survey. Of 122 residents who reported the type of project they conducted, 59 (48%) completed a clinical/health services project, 24 (20%) completed a project in education or curriculum development, and 7 (6%) worked in basic science. Thirty-five residents (27%) received funding to support their work. Thirty-five residents (26%) presented at national meetings such as the Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting. Fifteen (11%) residents have had manuscripts accepted for publication, and 22 (16%) additional residents have submitted manuscripts for publication. Factors associated with successful publication included having received funding (odds ratio: 3.37 [95% confidence interval: 1.34-8.42]) and the nature of the research project (odds ratio: 3.55 [95% confidence interval: 1.40-9.04]). The majority of residents (84%) stated that the CDB rotation enhanced residency training.
CONCLUSIONS: A dedicated academic rotation that includes protected time, senior faculty mentorship, and program funding, can lead to productive research accomplishments by pediatric residents. Support of academic work during residency training may encourage engagement in a variety of academically oriented activities.
Child versus adult research: the gap in high-quality study design.
Martinez-Castaldi C, Silverstein M, Bauchner H.
Division of General Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, 88 E Newton St, Vose 3, Boston, MA 02118, USA. carolina.martinez-
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether there were differences in study design and purpose between published child- and adult-focused clinical research.
METHODS: We reviewed all articles published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Annals of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Archives of Internal Medicine, and Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine during the first 3 months of 2005 and assessed each study’s design and purpose. We compared articles focused on adults with those focused on children.
RESULTS: We included 370 original research reports in our analysis (New England Journal of Medicine, n = 46; Journal of the American Medical Association, n = 60; Annals of Internal Medicine, n = 27; Pediatrics, n = 130; Archives of Internal Medicine, n = 73; Archives of Adolescent and Pediatric Medicine, n = 34), of which 189 included only adults as subjects and 181 only children. Among adult studies, compared with child studies, there were more randomized, controlled trials (23.8% vs 8.8%) and systematic reviews (10.6% vs 1.7%) and fewer cross sectional studies (16.9% vs 40.9%). Study purposes also varied, with studies of therapies constituting 38.1% of adult studies, compared with 17.7% of child studies. In contrast, epidemiological studies, defined as studies describing the prevalence or incidence of diseases or risk factors or showing associations between risk factors and diseases, constituted 6.4% of adult studies, compared with 26.5% of child studies.
CONCLUSIONS: In 6 leading generalist and specialist journals, studies involving adults were significantly more likely than child studies to be randomized, controlled trials, systematic reviews, or studies of therapies. If such studies are to be viewed as the highest possible quality of evidence, then this difference has implications for quality of care for children and for funding and future directions in clinical research involving children.