POSTER TEMPLATES BY: Research Objective(s) Results Discussion References Introduction/Significance Study Procedures Specify the objective(s) of your study Using the literature, establish any previous work related to your research question. This section should describe the gaping hole in the literature and how your specific aims will attempt to address the gaping hole. Examples: Survey Platform: SurveyMonkey was used for data collection. The survey was created and pilot tested with ipads, which were used for data collection. Sampling frame: A list of all patients who met the inclusion criteria was generated from the office records of Near West Michigan OB/GYN clinic to create the sampling frame. This information was verified in an effort to eliminate/minimize coverage errors. Selecting the sample: A total of 113 patients met the study inclusion criteria. A simple random sample of the patients was drawn and the survey was given to those patients at their first post-partum visit. Sample Justification: The primary outcome variable for this study was satisfaction with delivery. The investigators estimated a satisfaction rate of 80% for the patients whose physician was present at the time of delivery and 40% for patients whose physician was not present at the time of delivery, with 20% of deliveries by the primary physician, with α=0.05 and β=0.20, a statistically significant difference can be detected with 14 patients in the primary physician group and 53 patients in the other physician group. In order to account for non-response errors, these values were increased by 10%. Data Collection: Examples: Initial notification: The charts of patients included in the sample were flagged and patients were recruited to participate at the first post-partum office visit. Survey dissemination: Upon agreement to participate, patients were given an ipad with the survey on it to complete while waiting to see the physician. Don’t Be Constrained by These Headings Every study is different, so don’t feel like you have to mash your round pegs to fit into the template’s square holes. Add sections and headings as are dictated by your study. Here’s where you provide some detail to all of the cool tables and figures that you have provided. Make sure the reader is very aware of what you consider to be the major findings from your study. This is also a place to remark upon some of the minor findings that did not make their way into any of your tables and figures. Hint: Don’t just regurgitate the same information already present in your tables and figures. Pick out specific pieces of information on which you would like your reader to focus. The discussion section is used to summarize the main findings from your study and to interpret your results relative to current findings in the literature. While it is a nice thing to include references, if you’re crunched for space, these are the first things to go. If the choice is between including a really good looking graph or the references, ditch the references and show the graph. Conclusions The big finish, where you get to blow your audience away with your final, pithy comments. This should be brief, three sentences tops. If you’re at a loss for words, you can either do a combined Discussion/Conclusions section or just do a conclusions section that reiterates the importance of your study. Title Authors Associated institutions Analyses Use this section to provide a brief description of the data analysis methods. Charts/Graphs/Pictures Lights! Camera! Graphs! Photos! Lurid Data! Yow! You get the idea. Here is where you put your eyeball grabbing data, amazing graphs and stupendous radiology and photos. Just don’t get all carried away with the three-D stuff and the retina searing color combinations. Provide your information in a clear, informative, and yes, entertaining fashion. Remember to number all Tables and Figures, so that you can easily refer to them in the Results section. Study Population Describe your target population and which specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were used. Example: All subjects who had prenatal care from and who had their babies delivered by physicians at the Near West Michigan OB/GYN clinic from 1/1/14 through 6/30/14 were the target population for the study. This section describes methods for creating your survey, selecting your sample and obtaining responses. Survey/Data Collection Tool Design: describe methods for constructing and testing items for the questionnaire and methods of data collection (e.g., survey platform) Example: Item construction: Items were drafted using careful consideration for wording, matching response options to questions and applicability of the survey questions to the study objective and the participants. Five patients not selected for the study sample were asked to verbally go through the questions with one of the investigators for feedback, which was incorporated into the final questionnaire. Study Procedures