The Wednesday Multidisciplinary Cardiology/Cardiac Surgery Case Conference can be a formidable presentation. This page has useful information to help you prepare.
Tips for Wednesday Case Conference:
CASE BASED:
1. We all appreciate presenting unusual cases, but avoid being too esoteric and specialty specific
2. A presentation of two similar cases may be considered if they illustrate a particular point, but the cases need to be presented quickly.
3. Avoid giving a grand rounds presentation.
4. Present relevant studies and guidelines where appropriate.
5. Prepare a slide with 2-4 learning objectives/lessons at the end of the case.
FACULTY MENTOR:
1. Each presentation must have a faculty mentor who reviews the presentation — usually the faculty involved with the patient.
2. It is important that any faculty critically involved in the case is told that you are presenting, especially if there is some controversy or poor outcome. I would recommend sending an email a few days before your presentation to all cardiologists and fellows who were involved in the case to let them know you will be presenting.
AUDIENCE:
1. Foster audience participation - have 1-2 planned stopping points where you will ask for audience input.
2. Plant allies in the audience who know the presentation and are prepared to speak on the topic. Or ask specific experts in the room to comment on the imaging, intervention, or decision making at certain key points (this is where inviting faculty who were involved in the case can be very helpful).
3. Managing the abrasive questioner with flattery.
TIME MANAGEMENT:
1. Plan to leave around 5 minutes for questions. No one complains about conference ending early! During the Q/A period at the end of the first talk, the second speaker should go up to plug in their computer to reduce the down time between talks
A few other tips:
Use a UW powerpoint template to streamline your talk.
UW POWERPOINT TEMPLATE 1 or UW POWERPOINT TEMPLATE WEBSITE
Remember, never have patient protected information in your talks. Ask a senior fellow how to overcome this in your images/echos/caths.
First time doing a Wednesday conference? Keep it simple, know what you are talking about and don't add fluff. See examples below (courtesy of Alex Hoffmann, Kate Khan and Cooper Kersey)