Frequency Two satisfactory projects are required for completion of Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. Timing The first project must be submitted and assessed as satisfactory by the end of the second year of Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine, in order to progress into the FINAL year of training in Geriatric Medicine. Trainees will not be certified for time spent in training in their final year prior to submission of a first satisfactory project. Deadline for completion Australia: Due to the College by 15 September New Zealand: Due to the College by 31 October Training type Core and non-core training Purpose The main aim of the project is for the trainee to investigate a topic directly relevant to Geriatric Medicine, in depth and with scientific rigour. Preparation of a project requires the trainee to demonstrate an understanding of research methodology, in order to have a better understanding of the scientific material that they will be exposed to during their practice as physicians. Projects require the trainee to demonstrate an ability to communicate original thought in an articulate and succinct manner. The projects should demonstrate the trainee s ability to: identify the relevant literature (including landmark, latest, most pertinent, major international and Australasian articles) and recognise well established evidence and gaps in the literature; systematically appraise the literature, considering research quality, the population studied (e.g. their age, gender and co-morbidities), the setting (e.g. acute or rehabilitation wards in hospital or the community) and the methodology used (i.e. simply paraphrasing the relevant literature is not adequate); apply current knowledge in planning a project or research question; acquire, synthesize and interpret data; and write the project in a scientific format that is clear and logical. Summative Task The two projects are summative tasks in Geriatric Medicine Advanced Training. Therefore the project should demonstrate knowledge, skills and attitudes commensurate with the senior level of an Advanced Trainee in Geriatric Medicine. Dual Trainees Dual trainees require two satisfactory Geriatric Medicine projects for Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. One satisfactory project must be submitted prior to entry to the final year of Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. Projects prepared for another training program will not be accepted by the STC/SAC to satisfy the project requirements for Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. Dual trainees need to check the requirements of both of the supervising committees carefully. Some other committees may accept a Geriatric Medicine project to be resubmitted to satisfy their project requirements. Dual trainees should contact the Education Officer for each committee that is supervising their training if they have questions regarding the project requirements. Presentations It is strongly recommended that all trainees present their project work at local and national scientific meetings. Submissions for oral presentations at the ANZSGM Annual Scientific Meeting are highly competitive so the most novel and highest quality studies are selected. Advanced Trainee (AT) Contribution Trainees must be the main contributor to the project submitted. If a trainee has worked on a larger
project as part of a group, the submitted project should focus on the work contributed by the trainee. Published work in which the trainee is not the first author would need to be re-written by the trainee focusing (in 2000-3000 words) on their work. The trainee must explicitly state their contribution to a project in detail, including their contribution to the topic selection, study design, ethics submission, data collection, statistical analysis, interpretation of results, development of discussion and conclusions. The trainee s contribution should be clearly stated in the methods section of the submitted work (or, if this is not possible, in a cover letter co-signed by the supervisor). The trainee s contribution can be excluded from the word count. The same work may not have been used for any other purpose, such as a project for another training program. A thesis or project prepared for a higher qualification such as a Doctorate or Masters may not be submitted as a project. Conversely, holding a PhD, Masters, or other postgraduate qualification does not waive the requirement for an AT to submit two projects as summative tasks for Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. However, original work undertaken as a component of a higher degree may potentially be submitted as an advanced training project. Trainees are encouraged to seek the advice of a member of the STC/ SAC before embarking on this option. Note: full-time research (as a formal post graduate research degree or not) must be prospectively approved by the STC/ SAC in Geriatric Medicine as part of Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine if the year is to be included as a component of Advanced Training in Geriatric Medicine. Writing Standards Projects should be: in sound English and free from grammatical and typographical errors (trainees should consider seeking assistance to ensure that their project is thoroughly proofread if they are not confident it is free from errors of English usage and grammar); clear, succinct, logical and be written in a style suitable for publication in a scientific journal; in a legible typeface of at least 11 points and 1.5 line spacing; and with a standard and consistent method of citing literature. PowerPoint slides from a presentation are not acceptable. See the appendix for information on resources that provide useful tips on Research Design and Scientific Writing. Plagiarism Plagiarism involves copying or paraphrasing another author s ideas or writing, without acknowledging the source, and representing them as your own. Please use this short online quiz to check your understanding: http://www.lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/citing-quiz/quiz.html. Software and other electronic methods will be used to detect plagiarism in random audits. Strict penalties apply for breaches of academic honesty. Supervisor s Role It is the responsibility of the trainee to prepare and submit a satisfactory project. The supervisor is expected to offer advice and review progress throughout the training period. Generally it is recommended that the supervisor should: meet with the trainee early in the year to plan the project including selecting a topic, the proposed format and timelines for completing the project; ensure that the project planned is feasible and of a suitable standard; formulate a feasible timeline to submission; monitor progress and advise at regular intervals (e.g. monthly); clarify access to statistical support or other infrastructure required; thoroughly review the final drafts of the project and give constructive feedback on any substandard aspects; sign the cover sheer prior to submission. This indicates that the supervisor i) agrees with the stated
trainee contribution to the project and ii) has read the project thoroughly and given constructive feedback. Generally a project requires a number of revisions before it is finally submitted to the STC/SAC. Thus itis recommended that trainees complete their first draft at least 6 weeks prior to the submission deadline. This will allow time for the supervisor to thoroughly review the work and for the trainee to revise it. Help from a member of the ANZSGM Scientific and Research (S&R) Committee The following members of the ANZSGM Scientific and Research Committee are available to provide advice to supervisors and trainees regarding research project design and execution: Name State/Country Email Address Vasi Naganathan NSW vasi.naganathan@sydney.edu.au Jacqui Close NSW j.close@unsw.edu.au Gideon Caplan NSW G.Caplan@unsw.edu.au Louise Waite NSW louise.waite@sswahs.nsw.gov.au Ronald Leong VIC r.leong@cgmc.org.au Velandi Srikanth VIC velandai.srikanth@med.monash.edu.au Robert Prowse SA robert.prowse@health.sa.gov.au Elizabeth Whiting QLD Elizabeth_Whiting@health.qld.gov.au Leon Flicker WA leonflic@cyllene.uwa.edu.au Sean Maher WA Sean.Maher@health.wa.gov.au Maree Todd NZ marreet@adhb.govt.nz Martin Connolly NZ martin.connolly@waitematadhb.govt.nz Project Assessment Each project is marked independently by two reviewers - usually STC/SAC, ANZSGM Geriatric Medicine Education and Training Committee or S&R Committee members. The reviewers will usually be from a different state to the trainee. Projects will be marked against the standards set out in these guidelines. If the project has been published in an acceptable peer reviewed journal, it will usually automatically be considered satisfactory, unless the contribution by the trainee was insufficient or the project does not meet the criteria (e.g. if the project is not directly relevant to Geriatric Medicine). If one or both of the markers do not mark the project as satisfactory, the project will be referred to the Markers Panel who may decide to either Pass or Fail the project, request a third marker or require the trainee to revise and resubmit the project. It is not uncommon for a project to require revision and this should be seen as part of the learning experience, as responding to reviewers comments is an important skill to acquire when submitting papers for publication. When submitting a revise project a covering note outlining the changes made in response to the reviewers comments should be included. A good way to present responses to reviewers comments is to summarise the responses in table form. Prepare three columns (1. Reviewers Comments, 2. Detail about what changes were made, and 3. Page and Paragraph details) and one separate row for each of the reviewers comments. Revised projects will be reassessed by the same two markers. If a revised project is still assessed as unsatisfactory this will be the final result and no further opportunity for revision will be offered. The trainee will still need to submit two satisfactory projects to complete their training. Project Topic The project topic must have direct relevance to Geriatric Medicine. For example a literature review on some aspect on Parkinson s disease may not be acceptable unless it focuses on an issue that is
directly relevant to Geriatric Medicine. A research project that involves data collection should be on a study cohort that would be seen by Geriatricians or is directly relevant to Geriatric Medicine (for example healthy ageing). If there is any doubt about the relevance of a topic then there should be a discussion with the STC/ SAC before embarking on the project. Project Format The project may be a research study, detailed research study proposal, quality assurance or audit, literature review, contribution to an ANZSGM Position Statement, case study or other format. Most projects should be around 3000 words. To evidence an adequate amount of work, projects should have a length of at least 2000 words, exclusive of abstract, tables and references. To evidence use of succinct scientific writing, projects should generally be no longer than 4000 words. Although not generally recommended, literature reviews can extend to 5000 words if required. Projects that are shorter or longer than these limits may be penalised. The word count should be included in the submission (on the cover page and again following the project title or in the abstract). Case report For the purpose of the Advanced Training project, a case report/s should be used as a clinical illustration of the Geriatric Medical topic that is the focus of the project. As a case report is a relatively simple format, a higher standard of case presentation (such as a published case study that has generated novel insights relevant to Geriatric Medicine) and/or sophisticated discussion of the literature are expected. Only one of the two projects may be a case study. Audit or Quality Assurance project The aim of an audit or quality assurance project is to identify an important clinical issue and then to compare the local performance against the gold standard. This will identify substandard areas and specific recommendations should be made to implement improvements, based on a succinct review of the literature. Ideally the audit should then be repeated to assess the success of the interventions. Research Study All Advanced Trainees are encouraged to develop experience in research skills including literature review, study design, ethics and grant submissions, data collection, analysis (including statistics) and interpretation. A research project is always a major task. It is vital to seek advice from a supervisor with research expertise and/or access specialist statistical advice. The ANZSGM Scientific and Research Committee members are also available to give advice regarding research project design and execution (see above). A research project may take more than one year to complete. The first step in a research project is to identify a gap in the current evidence by undertaking a literature review. Then a single primary research question is formulated to address this gap. The aims, objectives and hypotheses should be explicitly stated. Next the methodology is designed to be both feasible and to answer the primary research question. This includes defining the population sample to be studied (including sample size, inclusion and exclusion criteria), primary outcomes and data required, and planned statistical analyses. Then approval from the local Human Research Ethics Committee should be obtained. All these steps should be completed before the study begins. Once the data are collected, analyses can be carried out. The trainee should then compare the key results with other similar published research and reach conclusions relating to the original aims of the study. Research should be presented using the IMRD format; Introduction (why the research was done i.e. identifying a gap in the evidence and why it is important), Methods (how the research was undertaken and the data collected), Results (reporting the details of the subjects and the outcomes of the study) and Discussion (what the results mean). Research Proposal If a major research project is planned then the research proposal may be sufficient to submit as a stand-alone project. This should include the supporting literature review, planned methodology, data
collection sheets, proposed statistical analyses and evidence of any relevant approvals (e.g. ethics committee approval). Literature Review This refers to a comprehensive review of the relevant, current literature applied to an important, focused question. The specific question and search strategy including key terms should be clearly stated (including the methodology used to find, sort, select and appraise the literature). All significant and current papers should be identified. The review should critically appraise the research and apply it to the specific question to be answered. This will include comparing and contrasting different papers, assessing their strengths and weaknesses (including discussing the characteristics of the subjects studied, methodology, outcomes and conclusions). Research gaps requiring further study, and important deficiencies in the published literature, should be identified. ANZSGM Position Papers The role of ANZSGM Position Papers is to publically state the Society s attitude and approach to a core issue in Geriatric Medicine in the local context of Australia and New Zealand. As such, each Position Statement is authored and reviewed by experts in the relevant specialty area in Geriatric Medicine. As part of the review process, the position statement is sent to multiple experts and subcommittees within the ANZSGM for comment. If a trainee wants to contribute to either updating or writing a new Position Statement under the supervision of an expert the work should be submitted in the form of a literature review with supporting materials (such as the draft Position Statement). If the purpose was to revise an existing position statement then a summary of the recommended revisions should be also be included along with the literature review. Other original scholarship Other project formats may be acceptable but should be discussed with a member of the STC/SAC. Submission Please submit three copies of the project, accompanied by three copies of the cover page, to: Australia The Education Officer to the STC in Geriatric Medicine Advanced Training The Royal Australasian College of Physicians 145 Macquarie St SYDNEY NSW 2000 New Zealand The Education Officer for the SAC in Geriatric Medicine The Royal Australasian College of Physicians PO Box 10601 WELLINGTON 6143 The cover sheet is available from the College website. The project may be submitted at any time during the year to which it applies, but not later than 15 September in Australia or 31 October in New Zealand. If submitted later, there will be a delay in accreditation of training. Trainees in their final year should aim to present projects to their supervisors at least four months prior to becoming eligible for Fellowship and to the STC/SAC three months prior to eligibility and entry. Information and training resources Project report cover sheet An appendix with useful resources is available on the RACP Geriatric Medicine webpage.