Description and productivity of emergency medicine researchers receiving K23 or K08 mentored research career development awards

Abstract

Objectives: The primary individual research career development awards for emergency medicine (EM) investigators are the K08 and K23 awards. To the best of the authors' knowledge, postaward productivity of EM K08 and K23 awardees has not been previously described. The objectives were to describe EM researchers who have received K08 or K23 awards and to evaluate their postaward federal funding and publications.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study, conducted during January 2012, of clinician-scientists who previously completed EM residency or fellowship programs and have received K08 or K23 awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) between fiscal years 2000 through 2011. Awardees were identified through the NIH reporting tool (NIH RePORTER). Postaward funding was abstracted, including R01-equivalent funding for K awardees who completed their K training by the end of the 2011 fiscal year. Postaward publications (with journal impact factor) were tabulated for all K awardees using PubMed and Journal Citation Reports. An e-mail survey was also conducted during September and October 2012 to describe the awardee characteristics (demographics and research background) of all EM K awardees using REDCap electronic data captures tools. Simple descriptive statistics are reported.

Results: Sixty-three EM awardees were identified; 24 (38%) were K08 awardees, and 39 (62%) were K23 awardees. Of the 38 (60%) awardees who completed their K training, 16 (42%) obtained subsequent federal funding, with six (16%) obtaining R01 funding (median time from end of K award to R01 award was 4.5 years). Overall, EM awardees published a mean (±SD) of 4.0 (±1.3) manuscripts per year (after the start of their K awards); the mean (±SD) impact factor of the journals in which these manuscripts were published was 4.5 (±5.7). Forty-five (71%) of EM K awardees responded to the survey. Respondents had a median age of 36 years (interquartile range [IQR] = 35 to 38 years), and 33 were male (73%). The median time from completion of residency to start of the K award was 6 years (IQR = 4 to 7 years), with 27 (60%) completing a research fellowship prior to the K award.

Conclusions: Over 40% of EM K awardees who completed their career development training subsequently obtained federal funding as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI, while approximately one in six obtained R01 equivalent funding. Given the numerous barriers facing emergency care researchers, EM K awardees demonstrate good postaward productivity.

Figure 1

Study flow chart. *See Data Supplement S1 for criteria. †By December 31, 2011.

Figure 2

Number of EM K awardees by year, n = 63.

Figure 3

Funding institute of EM K awardees, n = 63. AHRQ = Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; NCI = National Cancer Institute; NCRR = National Center for Research Resources; NHLBI = National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; NIA = National Institute on Aging; NIAAA = National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism; NIAID = National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease; NIAMS = National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases; NIBIB = National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering; NICHD = National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; NIDA = National Institute on Drug Abuse; NIEHS = National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; NIGMS = National Institute of General Medical Sciences; NIMH = National Institutes of Mental Health.

Figure 4

Activity codes for subsequent federally funded awards (31 awards) for EM K awardees (n = 38).*† *Includes only EM K awardees who completed their K awards by December 31, 2011, and federally funded awards obtained after the start of the K awards. †R01 or equivalent (includes R01, DP2, R23, R29, R37); other R (includes R03, R15, R21); cooperative agreements (includes all U awards); program awards (includes all P awards); and other (includes all other awards that did not fit into prespecified categories above).