A national survey on small research grants and the scholarly productivity of emergency medicine physicians in Canada

Small research grants can provide a funding source for novice physician-scientists during residency or as junior investigators. However, it is unknown if emergency medicine (EM) grant recipients benefit beyond the immediate monetary infusion of these modest awards (<$5,000). To better understand the role of small grants in EM research, we evaluated the scholarly productivity of previous recipients of a Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) research grant and compared the portion of career researchers among the recipients to all certified Canadian EM physicians. A 27-question online survey was developed and distributed to the recipients to ask about their CAEP grant project and research career productivity. Of the 96 grant recipients, 56 completed the survey (58% response rate). Respondents reported a high rate of project completion (95%) and publication success. Many recipients (85%) held an academic appointment, and 47% had formal research positions. In Canada, 2.5% of all certified EM physicians (n = 3,699) and 9.5% of EM specialists (n = 978) are currently involved in research. CAEP grant recipients are 5-fold and nearly 20-fold more likely than the population of certified EM specialists or all certified EM physicians, respectively, to be involved in research. As there are few funding sources in Canada for small EM-related projects, the finding that a considerably great proportion of physicians who are funded by these small grants (versus the entire pool of EM-trained physicians) commit to research as part of their career suggests that the funds may be meaningful beyond both the monetary support and project completion. The results of our evaluation indicate that modest research grants can support physician-researchers early in their careers, and many of these researchers continue with future research success, including research appointments, funding, and scholarly publications.