Developing Yourself Professionally Alice Fornari, EdD Hofstra North Shore Long Island Jewish School of Medicine

GOAL

Professional development as an

academic hospitalist

Objectives

Abstract preparation

Posters Creation Development tips (content, delivery)

Analyze samples

Posters as a Presentation Tool

Engage in conversation with like-minded people

Convey main point to large/diverse audience

Advertise work & institution

Instantaneous feedback & networking

Which book do

you want to open?

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Steps to Creating Posters

Plan Size Words-fonts Color scheme Images and graphics

Assemble In PowerPoint or Publisher Proof and Edit……

Print

Transport

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Planning Your Poster

http://www.postersession.com

http://www.posterpresentations.com

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What to Mount it on?

Conferences: 3.5 – 4’ x 8’ cork boards, pushpins, (read requirements)

Foam Boards Sizes (easels) 40x60 30x40 24x36 20x30 Trifold 36x48, center panel 24x36

Poster Board 22x28

Research Language

Research Question

Introduction

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Caveats/Limitations

Future Research Questions

Background

Hypothesis

Methods/Materials

Results

Conclusions

Discussion/Future research

References

Education Language

Objective

Background

Design

Intervention

Results

Interpretation

Challenges

Future Steps

Colloquial Language

What is the question?

What is the significance?

How did you address the problem? What did you do?

What did you find?

What do you think it means?

Any reservations?

Where do you go from here?

Tricks

Make a PowerPoint presentation Rule of 6 lines Identify and convey your message Sequence logically Use copy and paste for words, charts,

images into poster

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There is always too much text

20% Text, 40% Graphics, 40% Empty Space

Text20%

Space40% Graphics

40%

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Make a Handout

Put details in Handout (e.g. references)

Contact Information

Small version of poster

Brochure

Think about where you can put them

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What Images Do You Need?

Photographs: Resolution 72 DPI computer screen (too low) 150-300+ DPI print Web images won’t work unless 1200 x 1000 Find original digital pictures 1+ M pixels Scan at 600+ DPI

Charts and Graphs What data can be best illustrated? Use existing Excel graphs and tables

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Hints on Charts and Graphs

Avoid sensory overload – too much information on one chart

Avoid artistry gone wrong – while 3D is pretty, hard to interpret

Avoid distortion – adjusting scale to give appearance of greater effect

Avoid huge tables of raw data

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Rules of Consistency

Pick 2-3 fonts. Use the same Font for all… (size, color, capitalization, alignment) Headings (i.e. 60 pt Goody Old Style, Bold, Shadowed,

Garnet, Centered) Body Text (i.e. 32 pt Verdana, Black, Left justified) Labels (i.e. 20 pt Arial, black, centered)

Pick two or three colors, use throughout poster

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Rules of Consistency

Keep shading same (color and fade)

Keep borders same (color, style and thickness)

Keep objects (text boxes, headings) aligned to guidelines (vertically and horizontally)

Keep margins and gutters consistent

Keep line spacing consistent, adjust for readability

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Rules of Readability

Title banner read from 20 ft Body text read from 6 ft Suggested font sizes (depends on font)

Title of poster 96-120 pt Author(s) and institution 60-72 pt Headings 60-72 pt Body Text 32-48 pt Labels 20-32 pt

Test of readability – print 8.5 x 14 Can you still read it?

ALL CAPS

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Example Fonts – All 46pt

Verdana Arial Times New Roman Goudy Old Style

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Conservation of Ink No solid dark color backgrounds

Use white or gradient of light color

Compensate with decorative graphics, small areas of solid color

Conclusions

Conclusions

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Create Your Poster

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Options

Start from scratch

Use Templates Google Search “poster templates” Get someone to share their poster file Adjust to fit your need

Size # Columns-3 vs. 4 (VERITICAL OR HORIZONTAL) Guidelines-conference

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Steps for Creating From Scratch

Start with new, blank page

Set size of poster

Create guidelines

Add Title banner words and images

Add Headers

Add text boxes

Add images, charts, photos, graphs, lines, borders

Edit

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Set size of poster File Menu > Page Setup

PowerPoint

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Working With Text

Use bulleted lists if possible

Align text boxes with guidelines

Indent first line of paragraphs

Keep font size as large as possible, but be consistant

Edit ruthlessly -- there is always too much text

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Scaling Dimensions for PPT Actual Final Poster Size

PPT Page Size

42x72 32x56

40x60 37x56

Smaller that 56” (24x36)

Actual size

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Working With Images

Basic Poster Guidelines

Develop a short, results-oriented title

Use visual elements

Minimize text

Maintain large, easy-to-read font

AMEE GUIDE Creating effective poster presentations: Med Teach 2009.

Basic Poster Guidelines

Use appropriate headings (organize and guide)

Keep poster bright, colorful, and uncluttered

Speak about poster

Provide handout size copy

AMEE GUIDE Creating effective poster presentations: Med Teach 2009.

What to Bring to a Poster Session

Poster in a tube

Poster in handout form (color best, & envelope to hold on board)

Business cards

View the

Posters

Average is no longer good enough

Message

Visuals

Delivery

Focus

Restraint Clarity

Description of the problem,

clear statement of goals

Summary, call to action

Make it Stick

Message

Visuals

Delivery

What is an Abstract?

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose.

When used, an abstract always appears at the beginning of a manuscript, acting as the point-of-entry for any given scientific paper

Purpose

An abstract is used by many organizations as the basis for selecting research that is proposed for presentation in the form of a poster, platform/oral presentation or workshop presentation at an academic conference.

Case Study

Defined as a research strategy, an empirical inquiry that investigates a phenomenon within its real-life context. Case study research means single and multiple case studies, can include quantitative evidence, relies on multiple sources of evidence and benefits from the prior evidence.

Case Study

Introduction/Background (cite literature if possible and include relevance)

Case Description

Discussion (link to evidence/literature) Include implications for clinical practice and future patient

care outcomes

http://www.acponline.org/residents_fellows/competitions/abstract/prepare/clinvin_ex.pdf

Case Reports Introduction: Most case report abstracts begin with a short

introduction. This typically describes the context of the case and explains its relevance

and importance.

Case Description: When reporting the case, follow the basic rules of medical communication; describe in sequence the history, physical examination, investigative studies,

and the patient's progress and outcome. The trick is to be complete without obscuring the essence of the case with

irrelevant details.

Discussion: The main purpose of the discussion is to review why decisions were made and extract the lesson from the case. Not uncommonly, reports from the literature, or their absence, are cited that

either directly support or contradict the findings of the case.

Case Reports

Keep in mind that the best case report abstracts are those that make a small

number of teaching points (even just one) in clear and succinct language.

Clinical Research Abstracts

The first rule of writing abstracts is to know the rules. Required headings

Title, Introduction, Methods/Intervention, Results, Conclusions

250 or 350 words ???

Title Information

The title should summarize the abstract and convince the reviewers that the topic is important, relevant, and innovative.

To create a winning title, write out 6 to 10 key words found in the abstract and string them into various sentences.

Once you have a sentence that adequately conveys the meaning of the work, try to condense the title yet still convey the essential message.

Abstract: Clinical Research Context /Background

Objective

Design, Setting, and Participants

Interventions /Main Outcome Measures

Results

Conclusion

Background

This usually consists of several sentences outlining the question addressed by the research.

Make the first sentence of the introduction as interesting and dramatic as possible. For example, "100,000 people each year die of…" is

more interesting than "An important cause of mortality is…"

If space permits, provide a concise review of what is known about the problem addressed by the research, what remains unknown, and how your research project fills the knowledge gaps.

The final sentence of the introduction describes the purpose of the study or the study's a priori hypothesis.

Methods

This is the most difficult section of the abstract to write.

It must be scaled down sufficiently to allow the entire abstract to fit into the box, but at the same time it must be detailed enough to judge the validity of the work.

For most clinical research abstracts, the following areas are specifically mentioned: research design; research setting; number of patients enrolled in

the study and how they were selected;

A description of the intervention (clinical or educational)

A listing of the outcome variables and how they were measured.

Finally, the statistical methods used to analyze the data are described.

Results/Outcomes

This section begins with a description of the subjects that were included and excluded from the study. For those excluded, provide the reason for their exclusion. Describe setting, if room

Next, list the most important outcome variables.

If possible, present comparisons of the outcome variables between various subgroups (treated vs. untreated, young vs. old, male vs. female).

Educational outcomes with focus on change in knowledge, skills and/or attitudes of learners This can be by competency if appropriate to the educational

framework

Conclusion

State concisely what can be concluded and its implications for practice, patient care or learning

The conclusions must be supported by the data presented in the abstract

Never present unsubstantiated personal opinion.

If there is room, address the generalizability of the results to populations other than that studied and the limitations and assumptions of the study

Literature and Clinical Reviews

Surveys scholarly articles, books and other sources relevant to a particular issue, area of research, or theory

Provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work

The purpose is to offer an overview of significant literature published on a topic

The literature review itself, however, does NOT present new primary scholarship.

Components

Problem formulation—which topic or field is being examined and what are its component issues? (Introduction)

Literature search—finding materials relevant to the subject being explored (Methods-how citations were gathered)

Data evaluation—determining which literature makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the topic (Results)

Analysis and interpretation—discussing the findings and conclusions of pertinent literature (Conclusions)

Purpose of Literature Review

Place each work in the context of its contribution to the understanding of the subject under review

Describe the relationship of each work to the others under consideration

Identify new ways to interpret, and shed light on any gaps in, previous research

Resolve conflicts amongst seemingly contradictory previous studies

Identify areas of prior scholarship to prevent duplication of effort

Point the way forward for further research

Place one's original work in the context of existing literature

Assessing Literature

Provenance—What are the author's credentials? Are the author's arguments supported by evidence Objectivity—Is the author's perspective even-

handed or prejudicial? Persuasiveness—Which of the author's theses are

most/least convincing? Value—Are the author's arguments and conclusions

convincing? Does the work ultimately contribute in any significant

way to an understanding of the subject?

Educational Outcome: Abstract Piloting an integrated clinical skills progress test to assess milestones among medical

students

Background: There is growing evidence that medical student assessment should be developmentally sequenced, competency-based, individualized, and integrated across disciplines. To our knowledge, use of a single standardized case as a progress test to compare developmentally-based clinical skills competencies has not been described.

Description: As the culmination of a longitudinal clinical skills curriculum, we designed a standardized case administered in a clinical skills center to assess competency in communication, patient care, and professionalism among first and second year students. A committee of standardized patients and faculty reviewed student performance based on proposed developmental milestones to determine whether students attained designated competencies.

Outcomes: Fifty-eight first year and 33 second year students at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine completed the curriculum and examination. 81% of first-year and 85% of second-year students met developmental expectations in communication, 90% and 94% in patient care, and 84% and 76% in professionalism. The 23 students who did not meet expectations were offered remediation through individual feedback, videotape review, and a repeat exam. The implications of these data will be discussed.

Conclusions: A single standardized case identified students attaining milestones in clinical skills development and highlighted areas for feedback and remediation.

Take home message: As developmental milestones are proposed, it is critical to evaluate whether students meet the recommended competencies. We designed a single case to serve as an integrated clinical skills progress test. Future work will include prospective development of a competency-based instrument for longitudinal assessment in clinical skills.

Summary Points

Although short in length, a good abstract typically takes several days to write.

Seek the help of an experienced mentor. Share the abstract with your mentor and make

revisions based upon the feedback. Allow others to read your draft for clarity and to

check for spelling and grammatical mistakes. Reading the abstract orally is an excellent way to

catch grammatical errors and word omissions.