PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Andrew G Miller
AU  - Michael D Wilson
AU  - John D Davies
AU  - Michael A Gentile
AU  - Janice J Thalman
AU  - Neil R MacIntyre
TI  - Impact of a Formal Research Committee on Respiratory Therapists’ Publications
DP  - 2020 Oct 01
TA  - Respiratory Care
PG  - 3437368
VI  - 65
IP  - Suppl 10
4099  - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/65/Suppl_10/3437368.short
4100  - http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/65/Suppl_10/3437368.full
AB  - Background: Presenting research at the AARC Open Forum is an important aspect of the practice of respiratory care. Our department regularly presented abstracts but few projects were written up as manuscripts. We also noted that we had many respiratory therapists (RTs) doing research but no centralized strategy to evaluate individual projects and provide mentorship. To address these challenges, we formed a Respiratory Care Services Research Committee that meets monthly and includes the two co-chairs, departmental director, clinical research coordinator, adult/pediatric medical directors, educators and staff. We hypothesized that the formation of this committee would be associated with an increase in manuscripts. Methods: We evaluated all original research abstracts authored or co-authored by Duke RTs presented at the AARC Open Forum between 2009 and 2019. Abstracts were grouped into two time periods; 1) 2009-2013 (before the formation of the research committee and 2) 2014-2019 (after the formation of the research committee. Abstracts were evaluated based on authors, type of study, patient population, and whether the abstract resulted in a manuscript. If part of an abstract was included in a manuscript, it was counted as a manuscript. Primary outcome was the percentage of abstracts published as manuscripts. Chi-squared and non-parametric testing were performed as appropriate. Statistical significance was set at ≤ 0.05 and data were analyzed using SPSS v25. Results: 56 abstracts were presented by 18 different lead authors, with 15 (27%) published as manuscripts. Post research committee formation abstracts were more likely to be published as manuscripts (47% vs. 18%, P=0.02). The median (range) abstracts published per year decreased from 8 (5-10) to 3 (1-4), P=0.006. The senior author was most commonly a physician 40/56 (71%). There were no differences for the type of study (P=0.20), patient population (P=0.27), multi-center study (0.16), or senior author credentials (P=0.17) before and after committee formation. Conclusions: The formation of a research committee was associated with an increase in abstracts accepted as manuscripts and a decrease in the number of abstracts presented yearly. A formal committee appeared to increase the quality of research in a respiratory care department.