Resident scholarly activity is correlated with in-training exam scores

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between medical resident scholarly activity (SA) and in-training exam scores (ITEs). Methods: We conducted a five year (2013-14 through 2017-18) retrospective comparison of resident ITE scores and their cumulative SA. Each resident’s final ITE score was compared to their cumulative SA. Residents who began and ended their residency within this period were also evaluated with a comparison of their cumulative SA to their post-graduate year 1 (PGY1) ITE score and their change in ITE score. Results: 49 of 51 residents (96%) were evaluated. 26 of these were tracked from PGY1 through graduation. Spearman rank correlation shows a moderate positive correlation between scholarly activity and PGY1 ITE score (r=0.43, P=0.029), a weak positive correlation between scholarly activity and senior ITE score (r=0.29, P=0.046), and no correlation between scholarly activity and change in ITE score (r=-0.09, P=0.660). Conclusions: Our results provide evidence that higher scoring students tend to perform more scholarly activity. This finding warrants further study to determine the nature of this correlation – in particular the extent to which effort to increase one may also increase the other.