James A Haley Veterans' Hospital’s Summer Tampa Research Immersion Program or "Summer TRIP

James A. Haley Va Medical Center, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

The Summer Tampa Research Immersion Program (Summer TRIP) at the James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital is an interdepartmental collaboration between Research and Development, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, and Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences. The long-term goal of this program is to grow the next generation of VA health sciences researchers by targeting students early in their academic careers. The specific aims of this study are to: (1) Recruit and retain a diverse cohort into VA research careers; (2) Foster research knowledge and skill development; and (3) Conduct program evaluation to improve this program. This 5-year program will recruit 6 to 23 students at various academic levels (e.g., high school students, undergraduate students, medical students) per annual cycle. Students from underprivileged and underrepresented groups will be targeted via existing and emerging relationships with local high schools, community colleges, and universities. Recruited students will participant in a 12-week intensive research education and training program, consisting of a major research experience (3 days/week), a minor research experience (1 day/week) and research education and professional development didactics (1 day/week). Didactics will include research ethics and responsible conduct of research. Research experiences will focus on in-lab (basic and clinical) research from a team of mentors whose research focuses on the polytrauma triad (i.e., traumatic brain injury, chronic pain, posttraumatic stress disorder), spanning bench, human subjects, and implementation research. Recruited students (i.e., mentees) and mentors will be evaluated on their progress toward learning goals multiple times over the 12-week cycle. Mentees will gain scientific conference exposure by attending an in-house annual Polytrauma Research Exposition which occurs annually at the site’s hospital; as well, mentees will present research findings at an in-house Summer TRIP Research Symposium, developed specifically for this program, and will take place annually at the hospital’s Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center’s public space. As well, five committees (executive, mentorship, education, evaluation, and the community engagement council with external advisors) will guide program development, program evaluation, and program improvement across the five years of this study. The study multiple principal investigators (MPIs) will co-chair the executive committee, which will also include chairs of the other committees (other program faculty) to enhance information transfer across committees. The Summer TRIP program faculty include the two study MPIs, 11 faculty mentors (VA researchers), plus other stakeholder and advisors. Short and long-term outcomes (multi-method) of the program include assessment of student (mentee) perception of knowledge and skill gained during the program, mentor perception of mentee knowledge and skill development, evaluation of didactics, mentee research productivity, mentee retainment in health sciences education and careers, and evaluation of success toward recruitment and retention targets, including diversity factors. A manuscript detailing the development of the Summer TRIP program and the evaluation of the program will be drafted and submitted to a scientific journal that publishes studies on health care education and program development and evaluation. As well, information about the development and execution of this program will be shared nationally, for example, during the regularly scheduled VA Polytrauma System of Care teleconference (quarterly meeting).