High school students can safely and effectively participate in meaningful medical research

Research Objectives: High school (HS) students are generally not allowed to participate in medical research due to their supposed immaturity. There are concerns, among others, regarding ability to protect patient privacy. We set out to see if these young people, with adequate support and guidance could participate in medical research in a safe and effective manner.

Design: Two physicians enrolled HS students and put them through a rigorous research education program. They were taught how to: apply for an IRB, conduct a literature review, write a study proposal, gather and analyze appropriate data, and to put together an abstract. The HS students then were given projects to complete, which they then presented at a conference and finished by writing manuscripts for publication.

Setting: Large pediatric rehabilitation hospital

Participants: 22 HS students who went through the educational program

Interventions: Taught research method and completed projects independently

Main Outcome Measures: 1.Ability to independently complete projects, submit and present at conferences. 2. Influence on career choices

Results: Twenty two student over 14 years from various backgrounds participated. All completed successfully completed their projects. 5/22 returned to participate in additional projects. 21/22 (95%) or 26/27 (96%) projects were presented at international conferences. 7/27 (26%) were podium presentations and 18/27 (67%) were poster presentations. 8/22 went on to become physicians, 4 researchers, 2 physician assistants, 1 occupational therapist,1 engineer US Dept of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, 4 have not completed undergraduate studies as yet. Four papers have been published. No issues with data breach or risk to patient confidentiality were noted.

Conclusions: HS students are very capable of safely and effectively participating in research projects with proper guidance. A particular positive trait we found in all the participants was their ability to routinely follow specific instructions given by their mentors. To our surprise we also found that they seemed to have an eye for identifying patterns.
Early exposure to research is vital for HS students in career progression and could help influence their career choices.

Author(s) Disclosures: Authors' children (4/22) participated