clinical case presentation example

How to make an oral case presentation to healthcare colleagues

The content and delivery of a patient case for education and evidence-based care discussions in clinical practice.

BSIP SA / Alamy Stock Photo

A case presentation is a detailed narrative describing a specific problem experienced by one or more patients. Pharmacists usually focus on the medicines aspect , for example, where there is potential harm to a patient or proven benefit to the patient from medication, or where a medication error has occurred. Case presentations can be used as a pedagogical tool, as a method of appraising the presenter’s knowledge and as an opportunity for presenters to reflect on their clinical practice [1] .

The aim of an oral presentation is to disseminate information about a patient for the purpose of education, to update other members of the healthcare team on a patient’s progress, and to ensure the best, evidence-based care is being considered for their management.

Within a hospital, pharmacists are likely to present patients on a teaching or daily ward round or to a senior pharmacist or colleague for the purpose of asking advice on, for example, treatment options or complex drug-drug interactions, or for referral.

Content of a case presentation

As a general structure, an oral case presentation may be divided into three phases [2] :

• Reporting important patient information and clinical data;
• Analysing and synthesising identified issues (this is likely to include producing a list of these issues, generally termed a problem list);
• Managing the case by developing a therapeutic plan.

Specifically, the following information should be included [3] :

Patient and complaint details

Patient details: name, sex, age, ethnicity.

Presenting complaint: the reason the patient presented to the hospital (symptom/event).

History of presenting complaint: highlighting relevant events in chronological order, often presented as how many days ago they occurred. This should include prior admission to hospital for the same complaint.

Review of organ systems: listing positive or negative findings found from the doctor’s assessment that are relevant to the presenting complaint.

Past medical and surgical history

Social history: including occupation, exposures, smoking and alcohol history, and any recreational drug use.

Medication history, including any drug allergies: this should include any prescribed medicines, medicines purchased over-the-counter, any topical preparations used (including eye drops, nose drops, inhalers and nasal sprays) and any herbal or traditional remedies taken.

Sexual history: if this is relevant to the presenting complaint.

Details from a physical examination: this includes any relevant findings to the presenting complaint and should include relevant observations.

Laboratory investigation and imaging results: abnormal findings are presented.

Assessment: including differential diagnosis.

Plan: including any pharmaceutical care issues raised and how these should be resolved, ongoing management and discharge planning.

Any discrepancies between the current management of the patient’s conditions and evidence-based recommendations should be highlighted and reasons given for not adhering to evidence-based medicine ( see ‘Locating the evidence’ ).

Locating the evidence

The evidence base for the therapeutic options available should always be considered. There may be local guidance available within the hospital trust directing the management of the patient’s presenting condition. Pharmacists often contribute to the development of such guidelines, especially if medication is involved. If no local guidelines are available, the next step is to refer to national guidance. This is developed by a steering group of experts, for example, the British HIV Association or the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence . If the presenting condition is unusual or rare, for example, acute porphyria, and there are no local or national guidelines available, a literature search may help locate articles or case studies similar to the case.

Giving a case presentation

Currently, there are no available acknowledged guidelines or systematic descriptions of the structure, language and function of the oral case presentation [4] and therefore there is no standard on how the skills required to prepare or present a case are taught. Most individuals are introduced to this concept at undergraduate level and then build on their skills through practice-based learning.

A case presentation is a narrative of a patient’s care, so it is vital the presenter has familiarity with the patient, the case and its progression. The preparation for the presentation will depend on what information is to be included.

Generally, oral case presentations are brief and should be limited to 5–10 minutes. This may be extended if the case is being presented as part of an assessment compared with routine everyday working ( see ‘Case-based discussion’ ). The audience should be interested in what is being said so the presenter should maintain this engagement through eye contact, clear speech and enthusiasm for the case.

It is important to stick to the facts by presenting the case as a factual timeline and not describing how things should have happened instead. Importantly, the case should always be concluded and should include an outcome of the patient’s care [5] .

An example of an oral case presentation, given by a pharmacist to a doctor,  is available here .

A successful oral case presentation allows the audience to garner the right amount of patient information in the most efficient way, enabling a clinically appropriate plan to be developed. The challenge lies with the fact that the content and delivery of this will vary depending on the service, and clinical and audience setting [3] . A practitioner with less experience may find understanding the balance between sufficient information and efficiency of communication difficult, but regular use of the oral case presentation tool will improve this skill.

Tailoring case presentations to your audience

Most case presentations are not tailored to a specific audience because the same type of information will usually need to be conveyed in each case.

However, case presentations can be adapted to meet the identified learning needs of the target audience, if required for training purposes. This method involves varying the content of the presentation or choosing specific cases to present that will help achieve a set of objectives [6] . For example, if a requirement to learn about the management of acute myocardial infarction has been identified by the target audience, then the presenter may identify a case from the cardiology ward to present to the group, as opposed to presenting a patient reviewed by that person during their normal working practice.

Alternatively, a presenter could focus on a particular condition within a case, which will dictate what information is included. For example, if a case on asthma is being presented, the focus may be on recent use of bronchodilator therapy, respiratory function tests (including peak expiratory flow rate), symptoms related to exacerbation of airways disease, anxiety levels, ability to talk in full sentences, triggers to worsening of symptoms, and recent exposure to allergens. These may not be considered relevant if presenting the case on an unrelated condition that the same patient has, for example, if this patient was admitted with a hip fracture and their asthma was well controlled.

Case-based discussion

The oral case presentation may also act as the basis of workplace-based assessment in the form of a case-based discussion. In the UK, this forms part of many healthcare professional bodies’ assessment of clinical practice, for example, medical professional colleges.

For pharmacists, a case-based discussion forms part of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) Foundation and Advanced Practice assessments . Mastery of the oral case presentation skill could provide useful preparation for this assessment process.

A case-based discussion would include a pharmaceutical needs assessment, which involves identifying and prioritising pharmaceutical problems for a particular patient. Evidence-based guidelines relevant to the specific medical condition should be used to make treatment recommendations, and a plan to monitor the patient once therapy has started should be developed. Professionalism is an important aspect of case-based discussion — issues must be prioritised appropriately and ethical and legal frameworks must be referred to [7] . A case-based discussion would include broadly similar content to the oral case presentation, but would involve further questioning of the presenter by the assessor to determine the extent of the presenter’s knowledge of the specific case, condition and therapeutic strategies. The criteria used for assessment would depend on the level of practice of the presenter but, for pharmacists, this may include assessment against the RPS  Foundation or Pharmacy Frameworks .

Acknowledgement

With thanks to Aamer Safdar for providing the script for the audio case presentation.

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[1] Onishi H. The role of case presentation for teaching and learning activities. Kaohsiung J Med Sci 2008;24:356–360. doi: 10.1016/s1607-551x(08)70132–3

[2] Edwards JC, Brannan JR, Burgess L et al . Case presentation format and clinical reasoning: a strategy for teaching medical students. Medical Teacher 1987;9:285–292. doi: 10.3109/01421598709034790

[3] Goldberg C. A practical guide to clinical medicine: overview and general information about oral presentation. 2009. University of California, San Diego. Available from: https://meded.ecsd.edu/clinicalmed.oral.htm (accessed 5 December 2015)

[4] Chan MY. The oral case presentation: toward a performance-based rhetorical model for teaching and learning. Medical Education Online 2015;20. doi: 10.3402/meo.v20.28565

[5] McGee S. Medicine student programs: oral presentation guidelines. Learning & Scholarly Technologies, University of Washington. Available from: https://catalyst.uw.edu/workspace/medsp/30311/202905 (accessed 7 December 2015)

[6] Hays R. Teaching and Learning in Clinical Settings. 2006;425. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing Ltd.

[7] Royal Pharmaceutical Society. Tips for assessors for completing case-based discussions. 2015. Available from: http://www.rpharms.com/help/case_based_discussion.htm (accessed 30 December 2015)

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How to present clinical cases

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• Peer review
• Ademola Olaitan , medical student 1 ,
• Oluwakemi Okunade , final year medical student 1 ,
• Jonathan Corne , consultant physician 2
• 1 University of Nottingham
• 2 Nottingham University Hospitals

Presenting a patient is an essential skill that is rarely taught

Clinical presenting is the language that doctors use to communicate with each other every day of their working lives. Effective communication between doctors is crucial, considering the collaborative nature of medicine. As a medical student and later as a doctor you will be expected to present cases to peers and senior colleagues. This may be in the setting of handovers, referring a patient to another specialty, or requesting an opinion on a patient.

A well delivered case presentation will facilitate patient care, act a stimulus for timely intervention, and help identify individual and group learning needs. 1 Case presentations are also used as a tool for assessing clinical competencies at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Medical students are taught how to take histories, examine, and communicate effectively with patients. However, we are expected to learn how to present effectively by observation, trial, and error.

Principles of presentation

Remember that the purpose of the case presentation is to convey your diagnostic reasoning to the listener. By the end of your presentation the examiner should have a clear view of the patient’s condition. Your presentation should include all the facts required to formulate a management plan.

There are no hard and fast rules for a perfect presentation, rather the content of each presentation should be determined by the case, the context, and the audience. For example, presenting a newly admitted patient with complex social issues on a medical ward round will be very different from presenting a patient with a perforated duodenal ulcer who is in need of an emergency laparotomy.

Whether you’re presenting on a busy ward round or during an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), it is important that you are concise yet get across all the important points. Start by introducing patients with identifiers such as age, sex, and occupation, and move on to the complaint that they presented with or the reason that they are in hospital. The presenting complaint is an important signpost and should always be clearly stated at the start of the presentation.

Presenting a history

After you’ve introduced the patient and stated the presenting complaint, you can proceed in a chronological approach—for example, “Mr X came in yesterday with worsening shortness of breath, which he first noticed four days ago.” Alternatively you can discuss each of the problems, starting with the most pertinent and then going through each symptom in turn. This method is especially useful in patients who have several important comorbidities.

The rest of the history can then be presented in the standard format of presenting complaint, history of presenting complaint, medical history, drug history, family history, and social history. Strictly speaking there is no right or wrong place to insert any piece of information. However, in some instances it may be more appropriate to present some information as part of the history of presenting complaints rather than sticking rigidly to the standard format. For example, in a patient who presents with haemoptysis, a mention of relevant risk factors such as smoking or contacts with tuberculosis guides the listener down a specific diagnostic pathway.

Apart from deciding at what point to present particular pieces of information, it is also important to know what is relevant and should be included, and what is not. Although there is some variation in what your seniors might view as important features of the history, there are some aspects which are universally agreed to be essential. These include identifying the chief complaint, accurately describing the patient’s symptoms, a logical sequence of events, and an assessment of the most important problems. In addition, senior medical students will be expected to devise a management plan. 1

The detail in the family and social history should be adapted to the situation. So, having 12 cats is irrelevant in a patient who presents with acute appendicitis but can be relevant in a patient who presents with an acute asthma attack. Discerning the irrelevant from the relevant is not always easy, but it comes with experience. 2 In the meantime, learning about the diseases and their associated features can help to guide you in the things you need to ask about in your history. Indeed, it is impossible to present a good clinical history if you haven’t taken a good history from the patient.

Presenting examination findings

When presenting examination findings remember that the aim is to paint a clear picture of the patient’s clinical status. Help the listener to decide firstly whether the patient is acutely unwell by describing basics such as whether the patient is comfortable at rest, respiratory rate, pulse, and blood pressure. Is the patient pyrexial? Is the patient in pain? Is the patient alert and orientated? These descriptions allow the listener to quickly form a mental picture of the patient’s clinical status. After giving an overall picture of the patient you can move on to present specific findings about the systems in question. It is important to include particular negative findings because they can influence the patient’s management. For example, in a patient with heart failure it is helpful to state whether the patient has a raised jugular venous pressure, or if someone has a large thyroid swelling it is useful to comment on whether the trachea is displaced. Initially, students may find it difficult to know which details are relevant to the case presentation; however, this skill becomes honed with increasing knowledge and clinical experience.

Presenting in an exam

Although the same principles as presenting in other situations also apply in an exam setting, the exam situation differs in the sense that its purpose is for you to show your clinical competence to the examiner.

It’s all about making a good impression. Walk into the room confidently and with a smile. After taking the history or examining the patient, turn to the examiner and look at him or her before starting to present your findings. Avoid looking back at the patient while presenting. A good way to avoid appearing fiddly is to hold your stethoscope behind your back. You can then wring to your heart’s content without the examiner sensing your imminent nervous breakdown.

Start with an opening statement as you would in any other situation, before moving on to the main body of the presentation. When presenting the main body of your history or examination make sure that you show the examiner how your findings are linked to each other and how they come together to support your conclusion.

Finally, a good summary is just as important as a good introduction. Always end your presentation with two or three sentences that summarise the patient’s main problem. It can go something like this: “In summary, this is Mrs X, a lifelong smoker with a strong family history of cardiovascular disease, who has intermittent episodes of chest pain suggestive of stable angina.”

Improving your skills

The RIME model (reporter, interpreter, manager, and educator) gives the natural progression of the clinical skills of a medical student. 3 Early on in clinical practice students are simply reporters of information. As the student progresses and is able to link together symptoms, signs, and investigation results to come up with a differential diagnosis, he or she becomes an interpreter of information. With further development of clinical skills and increasing knowledge students are actively able to suggest management plans. Finally, managers progress to become educators. The development from reporter to manager is reflected in the student’s case presentations.

The key to improving presentation skills is to practise, practise, and then practise some more. So seize every opportunity to present to your colleagues and seniors, and reflect on the feedback you receive. 4 Additionally, by observing colleagues and doctors you can see how to and how not to present.

Remember the purpose of the presentation

Be flexible; the context should dictate the content of the presentation

Always include a presenting complaint

Present your findings in a way that shows understanding

Have a system

Use appropriate terminology

Additional tips for exams

Start with a clear introductory statement and close with a brief summary

After your summary suggest a working diagnosis and a management plan

Practise, practise, practise, and get feedback

Present with confidence, and don’t be put off by an examiner’s poker face

Be honest; do not make up signs to fit in with your diagnosis

Originally published as: Student BMJ 2010;18:c1539

Competing interests: None declared.

Provenance and peer review: Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

See “Medical ward rounds” ( Student BMJ 2009;17:98-9, http://archive.student.bmj.com/issues/09/03/life/98.php ).

• ↵ Green EH, Durning SJ, DeCherrie L, Fagan MJ, Sharpe B, Hershman W. Expectations for oral case presentations for clinical clerks: Opinions of internal medicine clerkship directors. J Gen Intern Med 2009 ; 24 : 370 -3. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science
• ↵ Lingard LA, Haber RJ. What do we mean by “relevance”? A clinical and rhetorical definition with implications for teaching and learning the case-presentation format. Acad Med 1999 ; 74 : S124 -7. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science
• ↵ Pangaro L. A new vocabulary and other innovations for improving descriptive in-training evaluations. Acad Med 1999 ; 74 : 1203 -7. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science
• ↵ Haber RJ, Lingard LA. Learning oral presentation skills: a rhetorical analysis with pedagogical and professional implications. J Gen Intern Med 2001 ; 16 : 308 -14. OpenUrl CrossRef PubMed Web of Science

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Top 7 Medical Case Presentation Templates with Samples and Examples

Sarojit Hazra

How does information expand beyond essential recollection? Facts alone can diminish in value over time. Context and implementation are crucial to form deep connections and roots. Here comes the role of case studies for clinical personnel in the medical field.

In the always-growing healthcare industry, medical case presentation is essential as it is a suggestion for new researchers. A medical case study is a report where a medical practitioner shares a patient's case. It comprises every detail related to patients. It is beneficial for describing a new medical condition, management options, or treatment for diseases.

Medical case presentations contribute significantly to the evolution of medical knowledge and research.

Case study analysis is essential for every business or industry, like the medical industry. It helps in managing the twists and turns of the industry. Want to take some ideas? Have a look at SlideTeam’s blog Case Analysis Templates .

Let us highlight some significant benefits of medical case presentation:

• Case study presentations are extremely good at depicting realistic clinical frameworks.
• It helps to enhance student participation alongside the joy of learning.
• These are ideal for sharing the latest information on the clinical landscape.
• It promotes critical thinking.
• It can also make better clinical outcomes.

If you are in the healthcare sector, another important tool is the medical dashboard. For a deeper insight, quickly take a look at Medical dashboard Templates .

Each of the slides is 100% editable and customizable. The 100% customizable nature of the templates allows you to edit your presentations. The content-ready slides give you the much-needed structure. Below, let’s explore a wide array of ready to use, content ready medical case presentation templates fit for your organization.

Template 1: Case Study on Blockchain Application in Healthcare: Medical Staff Credential Verification

Blockchain is becoming a potential solution to verify medical credentials. Though these are open to the public, they can be restricted through permissions. Are you finding it difficult to understand and implement? SlideTeam introduces this PPT Template that highlights how to operationalize medical staff verification process using blockchain technology. It explains that healthcare-based systems can also be used to verify the credentials of medical staff. Solutions-based blockchain to track the experiences of medical professionals. The PPT slides are designed with suitable icons, designs, graphs and other relevant material. Grab it quickly and draft your case study as per the client’s requirements.

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Template 2: Cost Benefits IOT Digital Twins Implementation Use Cases in the Medical Domain

This PPT template is designed to focus on the use cases in the medical domain, including research and development, diagnosis, surgery, medical equipment, etc. The slide offers a brief description of the mentioned use cases to understand the scenario better. Use it as an essential tool and captivate your audience. Get it Now!

Template 3: Major Use Cases for Tracking Medical Assets Asset Tracking and Management IoT 

Want to simplify medical complexities? The asset tracking solution is here to accompany you. It enables the medical sector to locate patients, clinicians, and medications more accurately and quickly. IoT development has made this task much more accessible by guiding you through every significant aspect of a medical asset-tracking solution. Introducing our slide exhibiting use cases of medical tools that can be tracked with IoT technology . Medical assets, including medical tools, medical equipment tracking, medications , etc., are shown in the layout with their use cases and impacts. Each topic is depicted in separate tables with appropriate icons.

Template 4: AIoT Healthcare Applications in Medical Imaging

AIoT is making the medical sector smarter and wiser to improve data management and human-machine interaction. When AIoT is applied to healthcare, enables virtual monitoring and accurate diagnosis of patients to develop a personalized patient experience. Here, we introduce our premium PPT Templates showcasing applications of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT) in radiology. You can provide detailed information about remote diagnosis , personalized treatment , and real-time monitoring. Adapt it now to increase your presentation threshold and educate your audience.

Template 5: Case Study of Leading Medical Devices Manufacturing Organization

An array of disruptive themes is shaping the medical device industry, and cloud computing is one of them. Soon, cloud computing will have a more significant impact on this industry. So, for your convenience, we are presenting our slide covering a case study of blue cloud with lending medical devices manufacturing organization. It covers significant topics like client objective, problem, our solution, and results chronologically. Consisting of three essential stages, this template is excellent for educating and enticing your audience.

Template 6: IoT Technology Use Case for Medical Treatment

IoT, or the Internet of Things, is gaining significance across industries, and the medical sector is no exception. It has taken medical treatment to a new level. This custom-built PowerPoint Template exhibits the use of IoT technology in domains of the healthcare industry. It provides a digital solution for patient treatment. The key elements are primary care, acute care, virtual hospital, etc., which are depicted along with descriptions, benefits, and additional comments. Each illustration is highlighted, colored and has a relevant icon for instantaneous identification. 

Template 7: IoT Medical Healthcare Technology Use Cases

The transformation of healthcare into digital healthcare has resulted in the rise of IoMT, or medical IoT . It refers to connected devices in medical healthcare and has become one of the fastest-growing industries in the IoT market. It would help if you dived deeper to manage, monitor, and preserve IoT devices in medical healthcare. This PPT presentation demonstrates uses of IoT Medical Healthcare Technology in monitoring patient health. Moreover, the slide includes remote patient monitoring, reduced waiting time, identifying chronic diseases, and drug management. Download this template design and present your case study with ultimate professionalism.

HEALTH CONSULTATION WILL BE QUICKER, SAFER AND SECURE

Case studies have a great history as an educational tool for clinicians. These are highly beneficial for nurturing deeper insights and learning. Access to such visually appealing and comprehensively presented Top 7 Medical Case Presentation Templates enables medical professionals to quickly present their patients' case studies. Be it tracking of medical assets, application of IoT in the clinical field, IoT medical healthcare technology uses, and so on, these templates serve as essential equipment in implementing all.

P.S. For perfection and success, you should dig into SlideTeam's fantastic blog, Medical Report Templates .

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Clinical Radiology Case Presentation: Do’s and Don’ts

Geethu e. punnen.

1 Division of Clinical Radiology, Department of Radiodiagnosis, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Shyamkumar N. Keshava

2 Division of Clinical Radiology, Department of Interventional Radiology, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

Sridhar Gibikote

Clinical case presentation is part of daily routine for doctors to communicate with each other to facilitate learning, and ultimately patient management. Hence, the art of good clinical case presentation is a skill that needs to be mastered. Case presentations are a part of most undergraduate and postgraduate training programs aimed at nurturing oratory and presentation design skills. This article is an attempt at providing a trainee in radiology a guideline to good case presentation skills.

Introduction

Good clinical case presentation is an essential skill to be learnt by all medical professionals. A well-presented clinical case is not only a didactic tool for individual or group learning but also reflects one’s aptitude for clinical reasoning and competency in being able to obtain, process, and organize patient data. These attributes contribute to the ability to communicate important clinical details with other professionals to provide comprehensive patient care. 1 2

The art of how to make a succinct and clear clinical case presentation is a skill that needs to be ingrained into trainees during any postgraduate training. A good case presentation gives the impression of professional competence. In this era, radiologists are involved significantly in guiding the management plan of most patients. During tumor boards and multidisciplinary meetings, radiologists play a pivotal role in presenting imaging findings of a patient to treating teams to brainstorm together the most ideal treatment plan. 3 Learning the art of case presentation will improve our communication with the referring team, whether be it on the phone or as a written report or while presenting in a multidisciplinary meeting. 1

One of the ways to develop good clinical case presentation skills is through regular practice of presenting clinical cases and their imaging findings, discussing the differentials, and narrowing down to the most likely diagnosis, after raising the various diagnostic challenges involved. 4

Many radiology conferences and continuing medical education (CME) provide an opportunity for case presentations to trainees. A clinical case presentation aims at involving the audience in the patient’s story. Perhaps most audience love to play “detective” and as they listen to a clinical case presentation, consciously or unconsciously; they are constructing a differential diagnosis. At the end, not only have they gone through the exercise of clinical reasoning trying to solve the patient’s problem, but also acquired or refreshed their knowledge about the discussed case. A succinct presentation and a confident presenter can drive home a learning point effectively.

The aim of this article was to chalk out a few strategies for especially radiologists in training on how to make a good clinical presentation.

What Defines a Good Presentation?

An ideal presentation is one that contains organized, coherent content that is presented crisply, adhering to the allotted time with an appropriate take-home message.

A simple “step by step” guide to formulating a comprehensive case presentation is as follows:

Step 1: Finding the Right Case to Present

Any case with a learning point is a good case to present. It does not necessarily have to be a rare case. A case can be of interest because it posed a challenge to diagnosis or management or if it is a common condition with an atypical finding, or unusual presentation. It is important to select a case in which imaging has played a role in correct diagnosis or interventional radiology had a role in the management. A case that illustrates novel approaches to known or common conditions is also an example of a case that can be chosen for presentation. 5

Always be alert and on the lookout for interesting cases during routine reporting. Being prospectively involved with the patient will give the advantage of tailoring the imaging appropriately and to understand the various problems the patient is going through as well as empathize with the patient and family. These will contribute significantly in being able to obtain follow-up and hence in the overall completeness of the case. Get in touch with a senior or faculty who can guide you through the workup of the case.

Step 2: Construction of the Presentation

Framing the appropriate title.

The title chosen should capture the attention of the audience. An intriguing title makes the audience want to hear the patient’s story. It can represent the system involved or patient’s presentation or imaging finding. 5 The title must not give away the diagnosis. For example, a title should not state “case of neurofibromatosis.” It takes away the suspense from the presentation. A simple way can be with patient’s clinical presentation, for example, “an unusual cause of back pain,” while a title such as “bubble trouble” induces speculation regarding the case in the audience. This can be a title for cystic lesions in any part of the body.

SAILS Approach

There are five main steps involved in making a case presentation that for the ease of quick recollection has been abbreviated as the “SAILS” approach ( Table 1 ). 6

Introduce in a few lines the patient’s age, gender, and relevant presenting complaints and relevant active medical problems. Specific details such as occupation and region, may be included if it is relevant and will make your listener weigh diagnostic possibilities differently. Relevant history of the illness or treatment received may be presented. The important and relevant laboratory investigation needs to be highlighted ( Fig. 1 ).

Slide without ( A ) and with ( B ) highlighting the relevant laboratory investigations that prevent the audience from not getting lost in all the information.

Making an outline is often the first step to be done. 7 Please mention what was the working diagnosis based on clinical presentation. Do not present unnecessary information that will drag the audience through wrong paths or give misleading clues to throw them off the route to diagnosis.

When presenting radiological imaging, ensure to present it in the chronological order. If the patient has prior imaging done from elsewhere before he or she presents to you, this may also be presented. Always highlight its contribution to the working diagnosis or to the decision on the appropriate imaging to be performed. Never comment on inadequacies in the available images from elsewhere.

Relevant positive and negative imaging findings need to be stated with clear representative images showing the same.

Analyze the Differential by Comparing the Possibilities, Narrowing Down to the Best Possible Diagnosis

Once clinical presentation, laboratory, and imaging findings are presented, the most awaited part of a case presentation begins, which is narrowing down the list of possible differentials.

Relevant imaging findings are presented with positive and negative findings that along with background medical knowledge contribute to the narrowing down of the differential diagnosis.

Present in a table features favoring or against a possible diagnosis. This helps the presenter as well as the audience to analyze various differentials and serves as a guide to arrive at the most likely differential. A tabular column is a crisp, easy to understand method to compare various conditions. Displaying each of the points in Table 1 after the other using animations may be effective in catching the attention of the audience.

A sample tabular column is illustrated in Fig. 2 . One column can mention the points in favor and the next column mentioning the points not in favor of the corresponding differential diagnosis.

A table comparing possible differentials is the ideal method to convey key points.

Integration of Clinical, Imaging, and Histopathological Findings for Final Diagnosis

Most importantly, integration of clinical findings with laboratory and radiological investigations and histopathological findings is key to arrive at a specific diagnosis. Treatment of the patient received and course in the hospital may also be integrated into this penultimate part of the presentation. A summary is a cogent synthesis of the information that reflects your overall thinking about the patient’s clinical and imaging presentation. 8 9

Literature Review

The review of literature adds to the educative value of the presentation. However, it should be kept in mind that a clinical case presentation is not the same as a seminar. Therefore, the review of literature needs to be brief and succinct. Its main purpose is to articulate the lessons learnt from this case and should illustrate how a similar case should be approached in future. 7 It may contain points relevant to the incidence of condition under discussion, diagnostic challenges, approach to diagnosis, and broad management outlines. Always remember to add references at the bottom of each slide while presenting review of literature. Inclusion of case examples from journals or textbooks should be avoided unless there is a significant value addition without extending beyond the allotted time.

Summary and Take-Home Point

It is advisable that the features favoring or against a possible diagnosis be presented in a table. A short of review of literature will draw attention to the incidence, diagnostic challenges, scope of imaging modalities, and recent advances.

Step 3: Go through a Checklist for a Good Clinical Case Presentation in Radiology

Always go through a checklist to ensure all points are covered in your presentation. Table 2 serves as both a summary and a checklist of what to do and what not to do in a radiology presentation.

Few Pertinent Tips

Slide preparation tips.

The rule of thumb when it comes to making a slide for clinical case presentations is to keep it simple. Various presentation mediums such as PowerPoint and Prezi may be used. 10

Running title: It is prudent to have a running title (topic of presentation) on every slide. This would be beneficial to a person who walks into the presentation late after the introductory slides were presented and to some of the audience who may be only partly attentive during the presentation.

For radiological presentations, a dark background with a light font is ideal. Font size of 28 is preferred; a font size less than 24 units should not be used (Microsoft PowerPoint). Choose a font that is crisp and legible on a computer screen from at least 2 m away. “Arial” font is preferable for academic and formal presentations as it is easy to read. Do not choose flowery or wavy fonts as they may be distractive. Let the font type and size be consistent throughout the presentation. Ensure that there are not more than four to five lines on a slide. Matter should be presented in points and not paragraphs. Bullet points or numbering may be used. Ensure that bullets are aligned to the left of the screen as they are easier to read. Highlight using a separate color or animation, the most important part of these points. The audience can be kept on their feet by creating suspense using nondistractive progressive transitions. Avoid using sounds during transitions. Figs. 3 and ​ and4 show 4 show the examples of the do and don’ts of slide formatting, respectively.

Slide formatting: Good practices for an ideal slide.

Slide formatting: Poor practices of slide formatting.

Most importantly, a carefully created presentation should not have grammatical errors, typographical errors such as extra spaces or inappropriate punctuations. Avoid using all capitals unless it is an acronym.

Images within a Clinical Presentation

It is preferred to have images on a slide with relevant text and labeling by the side. Relevant clinical photographs or videos add color to any presentation. If any clinical photographs are shown, ensure patient anonymity by covering the eyes ( Fig. 5 ). The dignity of the patient should be maintained. Always mention that consent was obtained from the patient for taking the photograph and using it for educational purposes.

Important to maintain patient anonymity by covering their eyes (black box) in all clinical images. White plaque like lesions are shown along the left lateral border of tongue (white arrow).

Radiological images are indispensable in a radiological clinical case presentation. Images should be exhibited with care ensuring that anything mentioned in the corner of the images does not reveal patient identity. All images should be labeled appropriately. Complete label for an image includes an indication of modality and specific sequence of representative image. Findings may be highlighted by using arrows ( Fig. 6 ). Images when borrowed from a textbook, article, or a colleague should be acknowledged on the slide. This applies to data or any information as well. References should be included in the bottom of the slide when applicable.

Images need to be labeled appropriately indicating modality, plane of imaging, and specific window/sequence. This would complement the oral presentation and will aid better time management. Ensure that every slide has a running title.

The Art of Presenting a Clinical Case

The above paragraphs primarily dealt with the content and formatting of the content to make a good clinical case presentation. But this is only half the challenge. The other half is delivering the presentation in the most effective way.

Almost all podium presentations are time-bound. Most often, especially in radiological society conferences or CME, 6 minutes is the time allotted. One effective way of presentation is the modification of the Pecha Kucha presentation technique where typically individuals are given 6 minutes and 40 seconds to display or explain their ideas or work. Pecha Kucha is a Japanese word that translates into “chitchat.” Traditionally, a presenter shows 20 slides, each for 20 seconds but various modifications are being used these days for business meetings, education, or even display of art and music. 11 It is also believed that up to 7 minutes is the maximum length of time a listener can give active and undivided attention. 12

It takes significant practice and finesse to be able to tailor and complete a presentation within this time in front of an audience. Nobody enjoys a talk that goes beyond the allotted time and often the audience loses interest if it is too dragging. In a competitive setting, nonadherence to allotted timing can result in negative marking and hence not being able to achieve top positions.

Delivery of a Case Presentation

Fear of public speaking, also known as “glossophobia,” is widely prevalent. This fear can be overcome by extensive preparation, organization of your thoughts, and repetitive practice. Do not present too fast. Instead add short pauses between points. If the presenter has difficulty in the presentation language (e.g., English), make short sentences. Watch and learn from other experienced speakers how they present a talk. Imbibe the good qualities and avoid the mistakes they make.

Whenever you get a chance to present and discuss in a multidisciplinary meeting, utilize it as an opportunity to improvise communication skills.

It is important to appear calm and relaxed. Record your talk and listen to it, and evaluate it making notes on how you can improve it. Presentation in front of a mirror paying attention to facial gestures, body language is an option of practicing. However, presenting to someone who will be completely honest with you in their critique is better. It can be a friend, family member, or your faculty in charge. Presenting to someone you are comfortable with in the beginning will boost your confidence. Be open to their feedback.

Practice to be poised and present with clear articulation, proper volume, steady rate, good posture, eye contact, enthusiasm, confidence and to complete within the allotted time. Make sure that you look at the audience. It is important to not read from the slides and avoid using distractors such as “uhs uhms and aahs” during the presentation. With each presentation practice, one becomes better than the previous time.

Preparedness for Questions and Discussion

An interesting case presentation always leads to a short discussion or questions from the faculty or audience. The presenter needs to be equipped with adequate knowledge about the case and the condition being discussed. It is important to read about the case and its background extensively. Always be truthful and avoid guess work while answering questions. Remember, you do not necessarily have to be able to answer every question. If you do not know the answer to a question, without wasting the time of the audience, indicate that you are not aware of the answer and need to read up about it.

Finally, at the time of presentation, be prepared if things go different from anticipation. Please ignore minor errors, and concentrate on the remaining presentation. One should not be distracted by technical glitches related to the audio or display. Checking the presentation compatibility with the audio-visual aid and having a backup storage of the presentation are essential. Do not express any unpleasantness regarding technical problems. In case if there is shortage of time due to any technical problems, please switch over to the summary slide and do not compromise with take-home message.

A well-delivered case presentation will facilitate patient care, act as a stimulus for timely intervention, and help identify individual and group learning needs. Case presentations are also used as a tool for assessing clinical competencies at undergraduate and postgraduate level and serve as a tool for teaching. Regular clinical case presentations, under the guidance of faculty, should be incorporated into radiology resident training. We hope this review acts as a guideline that details what to do and what not to do during a clinical case presentation in radiology.

Conflicts of InterestFinancial Support and Sponsorship There are no conflicts of interest.

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Clinical Case 04-2023

Clinical case 04-2023 presentation, premium google slides theme and powerpoint template.

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