Quick Links:
- Policies:
- Content and Format
- Disclosures Relevant to Potential Commercial Bias
- Policy on Resolution of Conflicts of Interest
- Physician Competencies
- Forms:
- Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships
- Faculty Compliance Statement
- Further Reading:
- Principles of Adult Learning
- Writing Measurable Objectives
- Achieving Desired Results and Improved Outcomes
- Choosing Formats for Educational Activities
- Needs Assessment for CME
- Article on Feedback and Reflection: Teaching Methods for Clinical Settings
- Systems-Based Framework for Continuing Medical Education and Improvements in Translating New Knowledge into Physicians’ Practices
- Additional Information:
- Statement on Content Objectivity
- Conflict of Interest in Medical Research, Education, and Practice
Home > Speakers > Review Best Practices
Review Best Practices
Evidence-based medicine relies on the use of current best evidence combined with individual clinical expertise to make decisions about the care of individual patients or the delivery of health services. Current best evidence is up-to-date clinically relevant research about the effects of different forms of health care, the accuracy and precision of diagnostic tests, the potential for harm from exposure to particular agents, and the power of prognostic factors.
The following links provide the best practice guidelines approved by the federal government:
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: http://www.ahrq.gov/
- National Guideline Clearinghouse: http://www.guidelines.gov/
For practice guidelines in your specialty, please visit your particular specialty society website.
Free Access:
- Bandolier: http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/
- CDC Wonder: http://wonder.cdc.gov/
- Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE): http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/CMS2Web/
- Evidence Based Medicine for Primary Care & Internal Medicine: http://ebm.bmj.com/
- Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI): http://www.icsi.org/
- National Institutes of Health (NIH): http://clinicaltirals.gov/
- U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF): http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/
Subscription Required:
- Cochrane: http://www.cochrane.org/
- DynaMed: http://www.ebscohost.com/dynamed/
- Essential Evidence Plus: http://www.essentialevidenceplus.com/
- PEPID: http://www.pepid.com/
- Physicians Information and Education Resource (PIER): http://pier.acponline.org/index.html
- UptoDate: http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html
If you are preparing a presentation for a CME-certified conference or educational material, your content should be based on current best evidence that is accepted within the profession of medicine as adequate justification for the decisions about the care of individual patients. For more information on requirements and expectations for CME-certified activities, pelase visit our Overview page.
Tips for Preparing Presentations
- Begin by writing well-constructed objectives that are in line with the needs assessment and objectives for the course. Objectives are statements of what faculty members in the educational planning process expect participants to do, know or value as a result of the educational experience. They must be specific, measurable and bridge the gap between the identified need and desired result.
- Understand how adults learn. Refer to Principles-of-Adult-Learning for a quick refresher.
- Consider the audience, their scope of practice, and the barriers they face. Tailor your presentation accordingly.
- Develop clinically relevant content. Focus on clinical problems and knowledge that can be used in practice.
- Present an independent and balanced view of therapeutic options and strive for the highest scientific rigor on content.
- Incorporate as many interactive processes as possible that reinforce learning. Consider utilizing case studies/discussion, audience response systems (if available), simulations, and/or time for feedback and reflection.
- Prepare an easy to read PowerPoint presentation and handout materials that encapsulate the main points. Please view the Tips sheet, or visit these helpful sites for more information:
Microsoft: “Twelve Tips for Creating Better Presentations”
Mike Splane: “PowerPoint Presentation Advice”
IASTED: “Making PowerPoint Slides: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Bad Slides”
Making Good Use of an Audience Response System
If you are giving a presentation using an interactive participation technology such as an Audience Response System (ARS), you have available to you a powerful technology to engage your audience through interaction. Using wireless, handheld keypads, attendees can give you their feedback and opinions. In turn, the results can be collected immediately and the aggregate data graphically displayed within the presentation for everyone to see.
- Improve attentiveness
- Increase knowledge retention
- Poll anonymously
- Display polling responses immediately
- Confirm audience understanding of key points immediately
To get the most value out of the system, however, careful planning is essential. An interactive ARS is most effective when questions are brief, worthy and engaging. If you are considering using an ARS in your next presentation please contact Dr. Hassan Danesh in our office at hdanesh@iupui.edu for individual assistance in the effective use of an ARS to meet your learning objectives. You may also wish to reference our tip sheet, or see an example of a PowerPoint presentation that takes advantage of the technology.
For more information on the value and use of interactive participation technology, you may find these sites helpful:- Center for Education Research and Evaluation: “Effective Use of the Audience Response System-A Primer”
- “Use of an Audience Response System to Augment Interactive Learning”
- “Audience Response Systems and Touch Pad Technology: Their Role in CME”
- “Teaching Innovation using a Computerized Audience Response System”
