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Identifying Key Components for an Effective Case Report Poster: An Observational Study

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Abstract

BACKGROUND

Residents demonstrate scholarly activity by presenting posters at academic meetings. Although recommendations from national organizations are available, evidence identifying which components are most important is not.

OBJECTIVE

To develop and test an evaluation tool to measure the quality of case report posters and identify the specific components most in need of improvement.

DESIGN

Faculty evaluators reviewed case report posters and provided on-site feedback to presenters at poster sessions of four annual academic general internal medicine meetings. A newly developed ten-item evaluation form measured poster quality for specific components of content, discussion, and format (5-point Likert scale, 1 = lowest, 5 = highest).

Main outcome measure(s): Evaluation tool performance, including Cronbach alpha and inter-rater reliability, overall poster scores, differences across meetings and evaluators and specific components of the posters most in need of improvement.

RESULTS

Forty-five evaluators from 20 medical institutions reviewed 347 posters. Cronbach’s alpha of the evaluation form was 0.84 and inter-rater reliability, Spearman’s rho 0.49 (p < 0.001). The median score was 4.1 (Q1 -Q3, 3.7-4.6)(Q1 = 25th, Q3 = 75th percentile). The national meeting median score was higher than the regional meetings (4.4 vs, 4.0, P < 0.001). We found no difference in faculty scores. The following areas were identified as most needing improvement: clearly state learning objectives, tie conclusions to learning objectives, and use appropriate amount of words.

CONCLUSIONS

Our evaluation tool provides empirical data to guide trainees as they prepare posters for presentation which may improve poster quality and enhance their scholarly productivity.

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Acknowledgements

The authors have no potential conflicts of interest to report. Dr. Lisa L. Willett had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. The authors wish to thank the members of the 2006 Southern Regional SGIM planning committee and the faculty evaluators who provided feedback at the meetings.

Funding

None.

Conflict of Interest

None disclosed.

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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa L. Willett MD.

Additional information

Presented in part at the 2008 Society of General Internal Medicine Southern Regional Meeting, February 22, 2008, New Orleans, Louisiana.

Appendix: Evaluation Form

Appendix: Evaluation Form

Poster Presenter Academic Institution is in: ❒ Canada (1) ❒ USA (2) (List State):

   
  • What is the best component of this poster?

  • What is one area that could improve this poster?

   

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Willett, L.L., Paranjape, A. & Estrada, C. Identifying Key Components for an Effective Case Report Poster: An Observational Study. J GEN INTERN MED 24, 393–397 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0860-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-008-0860-1

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