EMERGENCY ULTRASOUND JOURNAL CLUB FORMAT

Goal: To develop skills in critically assessing the primary literature and verbally presenting the findings of current clinically relevant ultrasound research.

Objectives:

  1. Develop oral communication skills by presenting timely articles from the primary literature.

  2. Prepare and deliver an oral presentation, summarize and critically evaluate a research article.

    a) Assess the soundness of research methods and study design.

    b) Evaluate the presentation and analysis of data.

    c) Identify strengths and weaknesses of the study.

Format:

Prepare a presentation to be given during the last QA date of your rotation.

Introduction

  • Briefly discuss the case that prompted the discussion

  • Study objective/question

  • Justification for study-why did you choose to present this article?

  • Scientific background to the paper

Methods

  • Research design

  • Inclusion/exclusion criteria

  • Setting

  • Treatment protocol

  • Statistical tests and explanation of stats analysis

Results

Discussion

Guidelines:

  • Presentation should be ~15-20 minutes.

  • Powerpoint or Keynote format with one page summary in Word Document

  • Please send article to faculty and fellows the Monday prior to presentation date

  • Present the results and specify which findings are statistically significant.

  • State the authors’ conclusion and be able to defend or dispute these conclusions.

  • Discuss future implications to clinical practice.

  • Identify strengths and weaknesses of the study. Suggest improvements if possible.