How to prepare yourself for International science.

“You have to work at it.” Development of the medicine as well as of Ophthalmology lies in science. By meaning science we basically consider the research projects which are being built on the daily practice at our routine work. I have met many young ophthalmologists who were very interested in beginning the research projects but didn’t know how, or they just didn’t know from what they should begin with. Here are below a few steps of starting your own research project.

1. Be Attentive and Choose your Topic

By reading research articles or just visiting ophthalmology meetings, no matter if local or international, at that point you already begin to create your own image of scientific approaches in general. By being attentive at the lectures you are attending, you begin to think deeper about the things you are encountering in your practice and it helps to make a first step in creating your own ideas for a research projects.

2. Make an Observation and Review

It is already known that when we just begin our carrier we pass through a lot of days of observation. Even if it makes us complain sometimes it’s because we are so ambitious at the beginning to do everything ourselves rather than just observe. Nevertheless, this gives us time to think what we have observed and when we think we become even more curious about what we have seen and learnt. We form a lot of questions which leads us to review the literature, therefore evolve our knowledge further.

3. Form a Question

After making an interesting observation, a scientific mind itches to find out more about it. This is in fact a natural phenomenon. If you have ever wondered why or how something occurs, you have been listening to the scientist in you. In the scientific method, a question converts general wonders and interests to a channelled line of thinking and inquiry.

4. Find a Mentor

By finding a mentor I don’t mean a real mentor who could teach you everything you need. Sometimes it’s hard to get one. Your “mentor” can be the one who is the best in the field of your interest. The best one with not only his surgical skills but also with his research activities such as publications which are describing his practical experience with proved results. Even a specialist which you may meet at a meeting can become your mentor, by just simply keeping contacts with him via e-mail. Believe me there are plenty of great professionals who are willing to participate and help young and ambitious doctors.

5. Make your Team

For me it is most of the time the hardest part to find people with whom you can “speak” the “same language” with. Finding the right people for your team will not only base entirely on yourself but includes also sometimes a certain amount of luck. It is always good to have a good team for sharing your thoughts and to make some regularly brain-storming meetings. Find people by starting to look around you such as fellow colleagues, it could be from your workplace or maybe from different centers in the same city you live. Or even some of your international colleagues who could add some thoughts and ideas into your project. The possibilities of establishing your team have expanded incredibly via virtual sessions that give you the possibility to engage specialist around the globe. Make sure your use these opportunities.

6. Form a Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an informed guess as to the possible answer of the question you form. The hypothesis may be formed as soon as the question is posed, or it may require a great deal of background research and inquiry. The purpose of the hypothesis is not to get to a perfect answer of the question but to provide a direction for further scientific investigation.

7. Title your Research Project

It is always good to know what your research going to be about. You may change your title many times during a process of preparing your project, but the main idea will always be the same. So, just name your idea first.

8. Prepare the Material

Prepare the material by separating the patients you are interested in for your project and begin to collect the information from previously published studies. Keep all these articles in separated files on your computer because that information will help you to write an article in the future once you have gathered your research results.

9. Start now!