idea for presentation topic in general surgery?!

[run13]

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I'm an MS 3 on general surgery currently and struggling to come up with a good presentation topic. The presentation will be to 4 attendings, 10 residents and 1 other medical student. It will be 10 minutes, 20 slides max. I'm not sure what to talk about that everyone else in the room will find even mildly interesting or not already know?! ideas?? thanks!

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Ask your fellow students (who have already done the rotation and done well) and residents...

Without knowing what the expectations are, what the area(s) of specialty of the attendings are, and what student presentations have been like in the past, it is impossible for us to give you a helpful recommendation.

 

[Top Gun]

Why don't you try selecting a topic based on an interesting surgical case you've seen? You could discuss the etiology, pathophysiology, differential diagnosis, and surgical management of it.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Pick something easy. Like gallbladder disease or hernias. Leave simple questions unanswered to they can ask those questions. Give too much, and the questions get ridiculous.

Again I say you have to know the expectations. On most of my rotations, the expectations were for a presentation to be on the level of "current indications for neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer"

So if a student presented on "gallbladder" - they would fail. Flat out.

 

[KnuxNole]

Again I say you have to know the expectations. On most of my rotations, the expectations were for a presentation to be on the level of "current indications for neoadjuvant therapy in rectal cancer"

So if a student presented on "gallbladder" - they would fail. Flat out.

Damn, that must have been some INTENSE rotations for a 3rd year student :/

Personally for a surgery student, knowing the basics for gallbladder disease is a good start...so presenting that should be more than sufficient.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

Damn, that must have been some INTENSE rotations for a 3rd year student :/

No, it's really not. We are actually quite lenient on our students.

But for surgery residents and attendings to sit around every 8 weeks as students' rotate through and listen to rote presentations on very basic topics is torture.

It's not unreasonable to ask a student to do a bit of research, review the current literature, and come up with a decent presentation that is at least in theory interesting to the audience.

A presentation is not the same standard of knowledge I would expect a student to have on their oral exam or shelf exam. It's a focused effort that should push their boundary of knowledge, demonstrate their ability to use EBM, and teach both them and the audience something.

But again...this isn't my standard...it's my school's. And was very similar at my med school as at my residency. Obviously others have very different experiences. Which is why knowing the expectations is critical.

 

[KnuxNole]

That is true. And after realizing it'll be a topic for residents/attendings ala a grand rounds topic, that makes much more sense. I was thinking more like a student presentation for students with an attending or two critiquing.

I remember as a student having to present at grand rounds, and was thinking it would be horrible. After all, they are smart doctors and I'm a dumb little nitwit. But, looking at the literature isn't as scary as it sounds. Especially if you look at journal articles, it'd be a great help. In my case though, I did stick with a basic topic but used like one or two interesting tidbits 😛

The best of both worlds would be to do a quick presentation on an interesting case, and present a topic based on the case that would draw interest. With southernIM's suggestion, if there was an interesting rectal CA case, a quick presentation with a topic on new therapies for it could cover a lot of bases.

 

[lameidazhas]

review the current literature, and come up with a decent presentation that is at least in theory interesting to the audience.

 

[Top Gun]

1 would be A as most likely the patient has a renal artery stenosis. 2 would probably be B. 3 would be E the patient most likely has a perforation secondary to c diff leading to toxic megacolon. 4 would be A due to the dysphagia.