My Special Patient
Stella Resident, MD
Internal Medicine Residency Program, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Learning Objectives
Discussion
• Use action verbs describing your learning goals for the reader,
usually recognize, diagnose, manage, etc.
• The largest section of the poster – it
deserves the most attention.
• Break your discussion into several headings,
use tables and charts to make your points
Case Description
• Use section headings (Epidemiology, Clinical
Findings, Diagnostic Tests, etc.), bullets and
avoid “big-block-of-text” format – these are
hard to read
• An exquisitely brief and riveting synopsis of the case.
• If a common presentation of an uncommon
disease, explain how it’s like other cases.
• Adhere to the standard sequence of HPI -> PMH ->
Fam/SocHx -> PE -> Labs -> Studies. However, not all of the
above are necessarily relevant, and may not all be included.
Figure 1. Chest X-ray
• Review pathophysiology, epidemiology, risk
factors, clinical characteristics, optimal
diagnostic work-up, and treatment options.
• If the case is an uncommon presentation of a
common disease, explain how it is special.
• Consider breaking the case into sections (e.g. HPI, PMH, PE,
etc) to further organize the text for the reader. Use visual
dividers to separate sections
• Discuss what factors might have led to this
unusual presentation, and give thought to
how clinicians should be alert to this unusual
face of the disease.
• Give extensive thought to the lessons that
the case has to teach, and how a case like
this should change the way doctors think
about their patients. These lessons should
drive the structure of the entire poster.
• Be careful about bold controversial
statements (e.g. all patients with chest pain
should have emergent cardiac MRI).
• Not all of your scholarship needs to be in the
poster, but you should be ready to quote the
important literature as needed when they ask
you questions
• Do not include an abstract or
references in the poster!!
• ROS should be included in the HPI only when it contributes to
making the presentation interesting.
Implications
• Give a brief description of the treatment course and finish with
the patient’s last known outcome.
Figure 2. EKG
• Wrap up the points on how your case should impact clinical practice
• Are there broader policy considerations that make your case even more compelling?