How do you go about writing an abstract for presentation or starting a project?

[berkeleyboy]

I'm sorry but this might sound trivial but I want to do a paper, project, or abstract of some sort most probably in the field of surgery. So my question is: How do I start a project or get an abstract accepted for presentation?
Where do I start?

I'm a third year currently doing clinicals in Pennsylvania. The thing is, I don't have any research experience so I feel at a loss for how to get the ball rolling on this. I'm also doing my rotations at different hospitals so I'm never at the same hospital for longer than 6 weeks or 1 month.

Is this possible to do at all?

any contructive comments would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Berk

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[asdf123]

Approach an attending of your choice and ask them if they have any projects you can work on. It may be a case report (easiest), review paper or research you can help out with. So first thing to do is find a willing attending with a good project.

First step in most projects is a thorough literature search to find what has been written on that topic. The rest obviously depends on the type of project...

 

[bla_3x]

For the above mentioned search, what are the most common methods/resources used (Pubmed, ovid, etc.)?

 

[asdf123]

For the above mentioned search, what are the most common methods/resources used (Pubmed, ovid, etc.)?

For most purposes, pubmed is more than adequate. If you really want to be complete, can also try Embase and Cochrane Library.

 

[berkeleyboy]

Approach an attending of your choice and ask them if they have any projects you can work on. It may be a case report (easiest), review paper or research you can help out with. So first thing to do is find a willing attending with a good project.

First step in most projects is a thorough literature search to find what has been written on that topic. The rest obviously depends on the type of project...

hey thanks! what exactly constitutes a case report by the way?

 

[asdf123]

hey thanks! what exactly constitutes a case report by the way?

A case report is a rare case or complication that has never been reported before in the literature or there may be a few isolated reports on it. You write the patient history/presentation/treatment or whatever is relevant to the case you're describing. Then you have a "discussion" section that discusses the importance of what you're reporting and goes over previous literature on the topic, if any.

 

[berkeleyboy]

A case report is a rare case or complication that has never been reported before in the literature or there may be a few isolated reports on it. You write the patient history/presentation/treatment or whatever is relevant to the case you're describing. Then you have a "discussion" section that discusses the importance of what you're reporting and goes over previous literature on the topic, if any.

thanks for your help!

Berk