Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

If you cannot find the answer here then please email orcapaedics@gmail.com

Authorship?

Authorship in any project involving multiple contributors can be a difficult issue. Whenever ORCA publish a project from the group it will be under the guise of a project team, with several levels of involvement which will be made clear from the outset. 
 
The project will involve a central steering group, writing committee and data management team, and project co-ordinators and data collectors for each unit. It is anticipated that key personnel will be part of several of these sections and would be counted as part of the standard authorship, as would leaders of each section. 
 
All contributors would gain a citable reference which can be verified by PubMed as in the example shown by the London Surgical Research Group website here.

What's in it for me?

The benefits of collaboration are:

Trainees

  • Develop skills by working alongside others using their specific areas of expertise and involving others to assist with weaker areas.
  • CVs will develop through publications and presentations.
  • Demonstrate management and team leading skills by running projects within the collaborative.

Research 

  • Small ideas should expand into something more meaningful through collaboration.
  • Combined expertise will maximise the potential of research ideas.
  • Shared experience should produce substantive credible research output, which is not always possible in isolation.
  • Allows co-ordination of larger scale projects.
  • Regional research should generate larger sample sizes and enhance the statistical power of studies

Influence

  • Grow the influence of our region and the research output it generates.

How will it work?

Initially we would like to invite anyone interested to contact us via the ORCA trainee mailing list or by e-mailing orca@eoeortho.com.

This includes both trainees and trainers who have research ideas they want to pursue through the collaborative or trainees who want to be involved with the week to week running of the collaborative.

We will then form a committee to oversee and direct the process.

Specific research projects will be selected with a nominated trainee as the project lead managing and liaising with trainees posted in the various regional centres who will facilitate with on-site project management.

The focal point for information will be the ORCA website. The region is a natural network and trainee teaching a natural focal point. ORCA will formalise and harness the informal exchange of ideas and links that the trainees in the region have already developed working and rotating together and through the regional teaching.

While the collaborative will be trainee led we feel it is important that the regions consultants are involved to act as mentors and to advise and support. As the process evolves we hope to have the collaborative recognised with the STC, Training programme and school of surgery meaning that research activity undertaken within the collaborative will count towards the in-training research requirement for CCT

But research takes time and trainees move hospitals?

Well performed research takes time. There are many stages during the process:

Initial ideas, literature searching, study design, ethical approval, data collection, data analysis, manuscript composition, journal submission.

An individual trainee faces considerable time constraints to progress through all these phases in any six month post. Research collaboration will overcome the problem of rotating out of a department before project completion because collaborators can continue with projects until completion. In contrast, completing research alone and within finite time frames is far harder.

How do I get involved?

We would love your help, please drop us an email to info@orcaco.ukpaedics.