How to write when you don’t have research of your own

When I joined the faculty at my current institution, I was amazed at all of the opportunities to get involved. Being in an academic institution brings about opportunities (as well as pressures!) to produce in many different ways. As a full time clinician however, I was unsure of how to start to work on my “scholarship” expectations. Scholarship was part of the promotion expectations, but I also wanted to be able to feed my desire to be involved in research and love of this type of work. I’ve always enjoyed writing, from the time I was my high school’s yearbook editor, to navigating the challenges of Literature classes in college, to getting oriented to research writing once I joined several labs in the psychology department of my undergraduate institution. My love of writing was only fueled in my graduate work as I was immersed in the research environment. I have always enjoyed variety in my work, and because my current role is 100% clinical, I like that writing and research provide a contrast, a different way to use my brain. These pursuits are the opposite of the emotional demands of clinic work in some ways – writing is done mostly alone, and engages a different part of my brain than does my work with my patients.

So I had to ask myself - how can I get involved in research when my responsibilities are primarily clinical, yet my promotion requirements along with academic mindedness say I need this other type of work for balance. There are probably many ways to do this, but the first thing I did was join a writing group that meets monthly (the benefits of this have been outlined already in this blog, but for me, this helped provide a space to get input from others, to network/collaborate with others who did have active research projects going, and to hold me accountable). Not having my own grants required some creativity. In addition to this writing group, I began to set up meetings with colleagues who were interested in the same things. I also sought mentorship from others who were experienced in this area. I found that some of the things I was interested in were unique, leading to interesting collaborations with those who did have existing data but hadn’t had the interest/time to publish in that area. I found that most people were open to collaboration when I was offering to put in the work! I also met with colleagues who had similar interests or who wanted similar things out of their career, and was drawn towards those with similar styles and ways of working. Starting a whole new research program felt very daunting, but collaborating with others helped it feel less overwhelming. Out of this came a collaboration in grant writing, which we continue to build upon and eventually plan to apply for some larger grants so that we can carve out some protected time to focus more fully on research and writing. Reminding myself that if I’m going to go this route, it’s going to take time. Along these lines, collaborating with colleagues to capitalize on the clinical work which we are already doing and looking at outcomes – writing an IRB and looking at quantitative and qualitative outcomes of our clinic.

These are just some of the ways that I’ve had success with writing when my primary area is clinical work. I think if I can sum up my experience in one word, it would be to “collaborate”! Happy writing!

Post by Dr. Kallio Hunnicutt - Ferguson