In times of shrinking departmental budgets, physician attrition, restricted house staff work hours, and reductions in grant funding, there has been a trend towards migration of physicians away from academic medicine. Creative solutions to maintain clinical research programs are frequently necessary. At the University of California Irvine Medical Center, a clinical research program has been created that has allowed research to both survive and thrive in challenging times. The MICU Research Associates Program (MICU-RAP) provides a longitudinal experience for select undergraduate students to facilitate research as part of the MICU team while receiving academic credit and valuable experience. The MICU-RAP student coordinator and faculty advisor work together to recruit research associates, organize weekly meetings, create and implement research protocols, and mentor students and future physician-scientists. Student research associates are trained to develop and maintain a secure database, assist in the authorship of IRB protocols, aid in statistical analyses, and co-author abstracts, posters, and papers. In addition to the research, the MICU-RAP students are exposed to experiences meant to educate and prepare them for a career in health care. A coordinated group of student researchers can provide a significant piece of the infrastructure that physicians wishing to build or sustain a research career need to carry out clinical research when resources are scarce.
