a presentation for a doctor

How to Give an Excellent Medical Presentation

• By Sulaiman Ahmad
• July 22, 2019
• Medical Student , Pre-med
• Self-improvement

In medicine, we are constantly learning from each other. Professors stand in front of lecture halls to teach the fundamental knowledge needed to pass board exams and to treat our patients. Outside of the classroom, medical students, researchers, and physicians attend conferences to communicate ideas and update their colleagues with oral and poster presentations. In the clinic, students and resident physicians relay pertinent patient information to the physician in charge. Eventually, you will find yourself in front of an audience listening to your talk or an attending grading your clinical presentation. First, I will discuss what it takes to make an excellent presentation.  I will then finish this topic by providing guidelines for perfecting different types of presentations.

Critical Elements of an Excellent Presentation

 do some research.

Your audience will consider you an expert on the information you deliver. It is your job to achieve the expected level of comprehension of the topic. After choosing a topic, gather enough background information from diverse but appropriate sources (e.g., journals articles, relevant chapters in textbooks, personal discussion with subject matter experts, online videos).  Your research should provide you with a thorough understanding of the topic and a list of the important facts supporting your take-home message . Any gaps in your knowledge will become evident during your presentation. The goal is to develop confidence in your understanding of the topic and ability to share what you know.

Know Your Audience

Before putting your presentation together, take a moment to assess the baseline understanding of your expected audience . Ultimately your audience should walk away having learned something new. Try to figure out their collective interest, reasons for attending, and prior experience with the topic. Knowing your audience will allow you to focus on information that will keep them engaged and interested. For example, premed students have a different understanding of medical topics than medical students.  A presentation on the same subject should be different for both groups. If your listeners have different levels of expertise, take a moment to explain the fundamental concept, then build up the language and complexity to allow everyone to benefit from the information shared. Your audience is the reason why you are presenting.

Tell a Story

The human brain is wired to remember stories , especially if presented logically. A presentation is about the information shared, but it should also include the presenters’ passion, excitement, and personal style. All topics can be formatted to include characters, a description of the setting, plot, conflict, and a resolution. The story should allow the audience to take a journey with you. The hardest part is identifying the start and endpoint of your story and which details are needed. Make every word count by checking if it adds value to your narrative. Consider using metaphors, real examples, and descriptions that give life to your words .

Practicing your presentation is a vital step in developing an excellent presentation. You can memorize a script. However, memorization can reduce your connection with the audience. But in certain situations, scripts are quick and effective means of communicating important facts. Another approach is drafting bullet points of the main ideas and practicing the natural flow of information . This method allows your personality to shine on stage. To become comfortable speaking, start by practicing on your own . You can also record yourself with a cellphone or tablet and review the recording to evaluate your performance. Next, find a small group to present in front of and ask for their honest assessment . Eventually, your presentation will feel natural, and your stage presence will aid in communicating your main idea.

Q&A Session

Usually, your presentation does not end until after a question and answer session. Most presentations should include approximately five minutes in the end for the audience to ask questions . This part of the presentation allows you to clarify or further explain any part of your presentation. A question can also lead to expanding your presentation beyond what you originally planned to discuss . It is important for you to understand what is being asked and address the specific question directly. And if you do not have an answer, it is okay to admit that you do not know . Questions will force you to be creative and truly test your knowledge of the topic.

Different Types of Presentations

Presentations have many different forms, each with different goals; thus, each form requires a unique approach. In medicine, professors and clinician often provide students with lecture objectives and PowerPoint presentations that guide the students in their hour-long lecture. Conferences are a researcher’s platform to share their lab’s progress and conclusions. The last presentation I will go into is the clinical presentation a student typically performs for the physician in charge.

The main purpose of the lecture is to educate the attendees. We all have had great professors captivate our attention and other experiences that were a complete waste of time. But what makes some lectures better than others? The lecturer’s knowledge on the topic becomes obvious, and their stage presence confirms how comfortable they are with the topic.  If you are tasked with lecturing on a topic or a series, ensure that you have a solid understanding and address your learning objectives in the time allotted . The main concepts should be repeated multiple times throughout the lecture, followed by examples . Your PowerPoint slides should be limited to only main points and images that support your talking points. After difficult concepts are covered, ask questions to gauge your audience’s understanding . It is better to reemphasize a concept before building up to more complex learning objectives.

Research Presentation

Attending a conference is exciting, especially if you are representing your lab with an oral presentation.  It is an opportunity to share your research story, from the point of identifying a question to the process of reaching a conclusion. Realize your audience will include Primary Investigators, post-docs, and Ph.D. students that are also experts in the field . Attempt to grab the audience’s attention from the beginning by providing them with a reason to care. Then continue to explain how your study relates to the published work . After building up the background, address how you arrived at your research question. The most exciting part of your presentation should be explaining your conclusions and the path you took to get there. Finish up strong by discussing the implications of your findings and how they will have an impact in the field . The natural flow of information will come with practice and a deep understanding of your research topic. Presenting as a student usually leads to networking with professors and clinicians that can help you progress in your career.

Patient Presentation

Medical students learn how to take a patient’s history and perform a physical exam, but it is more challenging to reason through your clinical findings and subsequently present to an attending . Your clinical presentation style will change depending on the environment, medical department, and supervising physician . Upon joining a medical team, discuss the expectations and preference with each physician . It may be a good idea to draft a script that can get you started on organizing your patient presentation. The success of your presentation is correlated to your knowledge of the basic sciences and ability to critically assess the patient’s history and physical exam; the more you learn and read, the easier decision making and producing a plan becomes. Another important element is practicing your presentation style until it comes out naturally . Take the time to listen to your peers and experienced colleagues; learn from their mistakes and strengths . After concluding your presentation, ask for feedback and practice implementing the suggestions. You will be the eyes and ears for the physicians in charge, perfecting your patient presentation will help get the care the patients need while making everyone’s job a little easier.

Final remarks

There are some basic steps to achieving an excellent presentation: know the topic well, understand who you’re presenting to, develop a memorable story, and practice until it comes out naturally. A career in medicine is very versatile; you can be at the forefront of the next generation of physicians sharing your experiences or updating the science community with your research conclusions. At the minimum, you will be presenting the patient in the clinic. Thus, presenting is a skill every physician must master.

Sulaiman Ahmad

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Medical Presentations: How to Present Effectively on Urgent Topics

In the face of the pandemic that consumed 2020, we saw an uptick in medical presentations. And rightfully so. The world was in a state of panic over the unknown of a new virus, people were craving information, and organizations like the World Health Organization (WHO) were scrambling to provide data and resources to help address questions and concerns. Whether it was news stories, or medical research, the world needed to understand what we were up against with COVID-19. Naturally, presentations helped to deliver that information. But this isn’t the first time a virus or disease has rattled communities, and it’s certainly not the first time professionals have used medical presentations to educate the masses. Medical presentations are a helpful tool for medical professionals, research clinics, and organizations to help inform and educate their communities on a wide variety of urgent topics. This can include patient treatment, clinical trial research and results, training for medical staff, general education, medical research, or important data regarding diseases. 

While medical presentations tend to be fundamentally different from normal presentations in that they include critical and sensitive information, there are still design best practices just like any other deck. That said, what works for a sales pitch might not resonate well with a medical presentation.

Keep these five things in mind when you want to present effectively on urgent medical presentation topics. 

Consider your audience

You may be presenting to a group of doctors within your organization to get the team up to speed on new practices, sharing treatment plans with a patient, or educating the community on new health threats. How you structure your medical presentation is not a one-size-fits-all situation. How you talk to internal staff, versus how you would deliver information to a scared patient is not the same. When you’re crafting your message, consider your audience, and tailor the narrative to their overarching concerns and needs. 

Keep things straightforward

Unless you’re presenting to third year residents, your audience probably won’t be able to digest complicated medical terminology. It’s important to avoid medical jargon, complex definitions, or overcomplicated explanations that will confuse your audience. Instead, break things down in layman's terms and relate the information back to your audience and how it will affect them. Keeping things straightforward, and clear, will help your audience digest and process the information quicker. The end goal is that your audience leaves with clarity, feeling more educated on the topic and its urgency. 

Use icons to reflect the urgency of the situation

The use of visual aids, such as compelling images or meaningful icons, can help paint the picture of urgency in any presentation. Things like clocks, alarms, lightning bolts, or exclamation points can depict emergencies and symbolize something significant in your presentation. The use of impactful visuals will help engage your audience and let them know what they absolutely need to pay attention to. It helps you control the narrative, and highlight any pertinent information or key takeaways. 

Beautiful.ai’s free library of hundreds of thousands of images and icons can help take your presentation to the next level. Our custom icons were thoughtfully created by one of our in-house designers, and are a great way to compliment your data and add urgency to your slide . 

Hit them with the facts

In most medical presentations, factual data carries the slides. Whether it’s a survey, research results, or statistics about a particular disease, numerical data will help people understand the urgency or severity of the topic. For example, it was common for nearly every COVID-19 presentation or article to include statistics of the percentage of the population infected, which regions were seeing the greatest spikes in cases, death tolls by county, and data relevant to high-risk individuals. While the numbers may not always be fun— especially as they pertain to a pandemic— they paint a clear picture of what the audience needs to understand. Seeing scary statistics can put into perspective just how real the situation is. 

Using the proper charts, graphs , or infographics allows you to dictate exactly what information the audience is consuming. Data visualization with infographics can also help the audience understand and retain otherwise complicated data. However, even with the best charts, you can still overwhelm the audience with information. Opt to include only the most relevant info and useful data.

Allow time to process

Regardless of what you’re presenting— big or small— you should leave time at the end for questions. Medical presentations can be paralyzing, and your audience will likely be seeking more answers. Give your audience a minute or two following the presentation to process what they learned, and then give them a chance to ask questions. You may need to elaborate on specific slides, or revisit a piece of data, to help provide clarification. When it comes to urgent topics, you want your audience to leave feeling more knowledgeable and at ease than they were prior to tuning in. 

Jordan Turner

Jordan is a Bay Area writer, social media manager, and content strategist.

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6 Powerful Ways to Start a Presentation to Doctors

The beginning of your talk will set the tone for your allotted time

Whatever you do during the first 30-60 seconds should succeed in captivating the audience securely enough for them to turn all of their attention to you for the duration of your presentation. Loosen them up, fascinate them, or make them curious from the very beginning.

Consider using one of the six presentation openers listed below if you would like to try something new.

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Open up to your audience by illustrating how the subject at hand is personally important to you. When you start off with a personal tale of medicine, illness, cure, or perhaps gain and loss, you are inviting everyone present to identify with you. Suddenly you all become a part of the presentation. Rather than having to agree or disagree with the cold facts that you produce, they will actually be able to feel what you are saying once you make yourself seem more personable.

A colleague of mine was giving a similar presentation to another group of doctors just last month. He told me that the number one point the doctors were concerned about was xxxx.

2. Start with a story of a patient

Make your presentation entirely relevant by taking it directly to the case of a patient your medical device had treated. Deliver your story in a clear and intriguing way that lets doctors know that it is to be trusted and is not anecdotal. Before you present, make sure you establish the specific facts of the story so that you have a mental guideline to follow throughout your fluid talk. With your patient story you will start off by creating relevance and accountability for yourself and your message.

A doctor I met in the past told me of a patient who refused xxxxx equipment on the grounds that it was too uncomfortable. 

3. Start with a statistic

Give doctors a reason to listen to the rest of your presentation. Rather than asking them to blindly trust you before you get to the proof of your facts, start off with that proof. Deliver a relevant statistic that illuminates the importance of your entire presentation. The data you offer will provide a black and white, irrefutable example of why the topic of your discussion matters to your listeners. Using a statistic also illustrates that you are knowledgeable in the area, giving just one more reason why what you are discussing is worth hearing.

Did you know that the xxxx industry has been growing at a rate of xx% per year?

4. Start with a video

Movies of your medical device or how your technology works are guaranteed to draw attention as long as they are good and well structured. Videos are extremely useful when your medical device is too small to present to a group of doctors, is used inside the patient’s body, or is not mobile and is too large to bring into the room. Another type of video you can use is a video testimonial of a colleague they know and respect.

5. Start with a silence

What can be more powerful than a silence when you are expecting a speech? That period of waiting can be intense as the listeners wait for what is coming next. When you are ready to begin your presentation, try surprising listeners by providing them with a single sentence, and then a moment of complete silence. Maintain complete composure during the pause so that the doctors do not fear that you have forgotten what you were saying, or perhaps that you are angry or waiting for anything in particular. If you wish, say a few more words only to be followed by yet another silent period. In less than a minute you will have taken complete ownership of the room as all attention has turned to you, waiting for what you have to say next.

6. Start with humor

Laughter is a fun way to draw people’s focus. If you are confident that you will make your listeners laugh, using humor is a strong way of opening a presentation to doctors. The first step however is knowing your audience. You must know what the doctors in front of you will find funny or amusing before you bust out your best joke-telling skills. Then make sure your joke is relevant to your topic as well. A joke is meant to loosen the audience and make them feel comfortable and open to what you are about to say. However, if you botch the joke, you will be in for a rough recovery over the next few minutes.

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Ultimate Guide to Medical Presentations: Templates, Tutorials, Tips and Resources

About medical presentations.

Medical presentations are fundamentally different from other presentation types. In fact, they are one of the toughest type of presentations to design.

Medical slides have research facts, data charts, diagrams and illustrations that demand a totally different approach to design. You need a slide creation method that considers the unique problems you face as a medical presenter. In this guide, you will Tips, Tutorials and resources to get your started with making over your Medical slides.

We will start with some general tips and tricks on creating medical slides and then proceed to step by step tutorials. 

Quick Navigation

Tips to create Medical Presentations

PowerPoint Tutorials for Medical Slides

How to Present Lists & Text

How To Showcase Pictures Creatively

How to use animations effectively, creative morph transition ideas, making medical slides easy to understand, powerpoint delivery tips, powerpoint tips & tricks, issue with typical medical slides, medical slides makeover examples, medical powerpoint templates, free medical & healthcare icons, free medical presentation images, more resources for medical presentations, tips to create medical presentations, how to avoid overwhelming audience in technical presentations.

Do you want to improve how you explain concepts in a technical presentation? In this article, you will find a powerful technique called ‘Telescopic explanation’ to make your technical presentations much clearer and more memorable for your audience. To know more, read this post over on PrezoTraining.com

Tips to present Scientific Information

There are two major facets to a presentation: the content and how you present it. Let’s face it, no matter how great the content, no one will get it if they stop paying attention.

Here are some pointers on how to create clear, concise content for scientific presentations – and how to deliver your message in a dynamic way.   Find the tips over on Elsevier connect .

Preparing a Research Presentation

If you have never presented a paper at a scientific meeting,  or would like to polish your research presentations, this post contains information that will improve your presentation.

This article contains a set of guides and checklists to help you in the preparation of your presentation.   Read this post on ACP .

10 Tips for Medical Presentations

Whether you are presenting an audit or a case report at a local meeting, presenting a paper at a conference, presenting a business case to your Trust, or even presenting on a hot topic at your medical interview, you will need to know how to prepare medical slides which attract your audience rather than distract it. This post on ISC Medical provides 10 tips for Medical presentations.

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free E-course.

In the following sections, you'll find step by step PowerPoint tutorials & Makeover Ideas to help you makeover different parts of your presentation. 

How To Present Lists and Text

Information presentations use a lot of text and bullet list. In this section, you will find some creative ways to design these type of slides.

PowerPoint Tip: How to Present Long Lists on One Slide

If you have a Long Lists of items on One Slide here is a one-click trick on how to do this. Watch the video below to know more.

PowerPoint Trick to Convert Text to Graphics

Find a useful PowerPoint SmartArt Trick to convert Bullet Point Text to Graphics quickly and easily. Learn how to take the graphics to the next level with some creative ideas from Ramgopal.

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course.

Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

Medical presentations usually have a lot of pictures. Especially the training and informational slides. Here are some ways in which you can present the pictures in your presentations in a creative way. 

Right Way to Showcase Pictures

Learn the benefit of showcasing pictures using SmartArt tool in PowerPoint. In the video below we start with a typical picture Showcase slide used by presenters. Though the slide looks quite attractive in the first glance, there are some issues that makes the slide ineffective. Watch the video below to know more:

Cropping Pictures in PowerPoint

Learn a super easy trick to crop a picture in PowerPoint in a step by step way. This trick will help you crop a picture in the shape you want, in a single click.

A PowerPoint slide with too much content can be overwhelming for the audience. If you learn to sequence the way you present your information, you make it easy for your audience to understand your presentation.

Here are different ways you can use Custom Animations and Morph Transition effects to sequence information.

Animation for Process with Pictures

In this tutorial, you will find how to create a useful and practical slide with pictures and text to show a process or a timeline diagram. Learn how to create and present it to make an impact.

Animation for Highlighting Pictures

Learn to create an Animated Picture Reveal Effect in PowerPoint. Present your important picture with this effect. Watch the video to preview the effect and learn how to create it:

Sequential Fading technique in PowerPoint

This trick is super useful for medical presentations where you need to present an image step by step. Since it is an image you cannot break it up and present it in parts. However with this useful technique you can highlight one part of an image at a time with animation. 

For a 5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course. Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

In PowerPoint for Office 365, Microsoft introduced the Morph Transition. It is an effective way to create animations fast. Here are some ideas on how you can use this feature to create your slides.

Pros & Cons with Morph Transition

Learn how to create an easy animated scales diagram with Morph Transition Effect. This effect is available in PowerPoint for Office 365. You can also sign up & download the original PowerPoint file over at our website .

Morph Transition To Present Pictures

In this video you will find how to use PowerPoint Morph Transition to replace Custom Animations. See how this can be done with this example of a slide with multiple pictures with text.

Convert your boring text-based slides, blog articles or research papers into clear & beautiful visual slides - even if you have zero Design skills, zero PowerPoint skills & very little time - using our ‘4-step Neuro Slide Design System for Medical Presentations’

Watch the video below to learn more:

Ideas to Present Data

Medical presentations also usually contain a component of data. This could be related to statistics or research. In this section, you will find some easy ways to makeover your slides with numbers.

Creating Pie & Donut Charts 

Learn how to create a Pie chart in PowerPoint with this step by step tutorial. This video also covers how to adjust the Pie chart settings and also how to add Donut charts.

How to Animate a PowerPoint Table

Learn a trick to Animate a PowerPoint Table. PowerPoint does not have the feature of animating parts of a table.

[Advanced] Conditional Formatting for Charts

Learn to create a PowerPoint conditional formatting chart that changes color and direction of bar chart automatically for negative values. The positive values are displayed in green color and the negative values in red color. 

Here are some tips for when you are actually delivering your presentation. Present confidently with these ideas!

Use Presenter View in PowerPoint like a PRO

How to use Presenter View in PowerPoint to present your slides like a PRO (Presentation Delivery Tips). This view is for the presenter only - when the slideshow This requires 2 monitors (your laptop and the projector screen). Even if you want to use Presenter View in 1 monitor it is possible.  Learn how with this video.

Use Hidden Slides to Present Confidently

In this video, you will find a PowerPoint Tip on how to use Hidden slides to present confidently. This feature is especially useful when creating business presentations.

PowerPoint Slideshow Shortcuts

Here are some useful PowerPoint Slideshow Shortcuts you can use when delivering your next presentation. Hope you find these PowerPoint tips useful.

If you wish to improve the quality of your medical slides in a reliable way, take a look at the first  video over on this page .

Here are some tips and tricks to reduce time taken to create your slides. 

Setting Up Quick Access Toolbar

In this PowerPoint tips tutorial, you will find how to set up the Quick Access Toolbar. It is a great time-saving tool for any version of PowerPoint.

Autocorrect Trick to Save Time

Learn this trick to use PowerPoint Auto-correct option to save time and effort in creating your presentations. Write complex medical terminology accurately & easily in PowerPoint!

Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & offers.

Many of the medical slides you may see may look like this:

These slides are taken from various sources online like Slideshare and YouTube and represent various types of presentations. The common issues with such slides include:

• Issue with readability - due to poor color choices and font sizes
• Unprofessional design - with overlapping content, hard to read diagrams etc.
• Too much content - that overwhelms  the audience

It is quite common to see well researched medical content being totally ignored by the audience - because the presentation slides look busy and boring. And… You can’t blame your audience for tuning out of your presentation. 

The quality of your slides makes or breaks your medical presentations.

In this section, we'll makeover usual text filled PowerPoint slides into a visual and interesting slides. 

The original slides are taken from various sources online like Slideshare and YouTube and represent various types of presentations. 

Medical Title Slide

Original title slide:

Title slide after makeover:

Medical Training Presentation Slide

Original training slide:

Training slide after makeover:

Medical Slide With Quote

Original slide with quote:

Quote slide after makeover:

Health and Safety Training Slide

Slide after makeover:

In the  Medical Presentations Bundle with Neuro Slide Design Training, you can watch me make over Text-based slides, a Blog article, a Wikipedia article and a 11-page Research paper. I go through each of the 4 steps to transform these text-based documents to clear and beautiful visual slides.

The Bundle includes 900 Fully Editable PowerPoint Templates. Go over and checkout the bundle .

One of the ways to quickly improve the quality of your slides is to use good quality templates create with the needs of medical presenters in mind. Here are some resources...

Free Medical Title Templates

Leawo website provides free medical title templates for download. These templates are suitable for different type of medical presentations. You can preview and download them here .

FPPT website provides similar free title templates for use as well. You can find title templates related to medical and health fields over here on FPPT .

Premium Medical PowerPoint Templates

While free medical PowerPoint Templates are good enough for student or non-critical presentations, if you are consultant or specialist, you may prefer to use high-quality PowerPoint Templates. 

Preview Medical PowerPoint Templates Bundle

Create Medical Slides You Feel Proud to Present Using the Breakthrough Slide Design System created using proven Brain research principles. You can preview templates from our Medical Templates Bundle below:

Browse more templates and know more about the Medical PowerPoint Templates Bundle here .

Icons are useful to represent ideas on slides. Here are some useful links for downloading Healthcare and Medical Icons online. 

ICONFINDER : This website has a good collection of vector icons without too many ads or links to other websites.. You can search iconfinder by keyword and specifically look for free to use icons. You can also search by types of icons like glyphs, outline, flat, filled outline, 3D and more.

VECTEEZY : This website provides both free and premium icons. The license may require you to provide attribution to the author.  There are lot of popups and ads, and the focus in on their premium icons.

POWERPOINT : If you are using Office 365, you can find a lot of free icons right in PowerPoint. There are icons for people, technology and electronics, communication, business, analytics, commerce, education, signs and symbols, arrows, medical and much more.  You can edit the fill colors of these icons to customize them. 

Make your own icons in PowerPoint

Make your slides look professional and visual with these icons. Icons make it easy for your audience to remember the information you are presenting. Learn the secret to finding icons for free right within PowerPoint.

300+ Editable Icons for PowerPoint

The   Medical Presentations Bundle includes 300+ Medical Icons for PowerPoint. You can break these icons into individual components, mix and match them to create custom icons that meet your specific needs. As one of the doctors using this Bundle said, it is a “ ONE STOP SHOP” for every busy medical practitioner.

Medical presentations can be made more interesting and engaging by the addition of relevant images. If you are looking for high-quality free images, here are some suggestions:

FREEIMAGES.COM :  Images on this website are free for use for personal and commercial purposes. You can find a range of generic medical and healthcare images here.

PICJUMBO.COM :  This site provides free and interesting images for backgrounds. 

WIKIPEDIA is a great source for free images and illustrations. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you use images from Wikipedia.

1) Please check the copyright terms for each image. You may need to provide attribution as per their terms.

2) Images may be of different formats, sizes, color schemes and quality. 

Here is a collection of images from Wikipedia related to Brain:

150+ Medical Illustrations | 170+ Medical Photos | 150+ Silhouettes

In the   Medical Presentations Bundle     we have already done the hard work of putting together a large collection of high quality Medical, Pharma and Science photos & editable illustrations to use in your presentations. 

Remember, these are not the usual photos of smiling Doctors and pretty handshakes. These are practical medical photos you can use in your medical slides to illustrate your ideas.  As one of the doctors using this Bundle said, it is a “ONE STOP SHOP” for every busy medical practitioner.

For a  5-Part series on how to make your Medical Slides Clear and Visual , sign up for our Free e-course. Get access to exclusive members-only e-courses & downloads.

PowerPoint Skills for Medical Professionals Learn the 14 essential PowerPoint techniques that every medical professional needs to know to design clear medical slides. This training is part of Medical Presentations Bundle .

Advanced PowerPoint Video Tutorials Enhance your presentations with these ideas. In this section you will find extensive video tutorials for 2D and 3D Diagrams, Models, Picture Effects, Animations and More… Click here to browse

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35+ Best Medical PowerPoint Templates

We’ve prepared a handpicked collection of the best medical PowerPoint templates you can use to quickly make a professional medical-related presentation all by yourself.

It takes a lot of time and effort to prepare for an event presentation. You have to do the research, prepare the speech and lots more. On top of all that, you also have to design an engaging PowerPoint presentation as well.

Thanks to PowerPoint templates designed by professionals, you no longer have to use a mundane default template or spend hours designing the perfect slideshow. Here are a few of the best PowerPoint templates you can use for all kinds of medical themed presentations.

Whether you’re a doctor, dentist, nurse, researcher, or medical sales rep, these presentation templates will get you off to a great start. And our series of tips on what to look for in a medical PowerPoint Template should help as well!

How Does Unlimited PowerPoint Templates Sound?

Download thousands of PowerPoint templates, and many other design elements, with a monthly Envato Elements membership. It starts at $16 per month, and gives you unlimited access to a growing library of over 2,000,000 presentation templates, fonts, photos, graphics, and more.

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New & innovative.

Ciri Template

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Medical Showcase PowerPoint Template

Medical Showcase is a modern and stylish PowerPoint template designed for making slideshows for medical-related events, conference, and all other presentations.

The template comes with 20 master slide layouts in 2 different sizes. It also includes lots of diagrams, graphs, charts, and editable vector graphics.

Why This Is A Top Pick

Medical industry expands far beyond just hospitals and medical centers. This PowerPoint template has been designed with many of the medical-related businesses in mind. It will help you create presentations for various types of projects and purposes.

Mednamic – Medical Presentation PowerPoint Template

This is one of the best medical PowerPoint templates you’ll find on our list. It features a modern and clean design that offers many different styles of layouts for you to showcase information in a professional way. The template comes with more than 45 unique slide layouts for you to choose from.

Medication – Modern Medical PowerPoint Template

You can use this PowerPoint template to create modern presentations for medical treatment programs, medical services, and more. There are over 35 different slides in this template that comes in both light and dark color themes.

Medic – Medical PowerPoint Presentation Template

If you’re looking for a medical PowerPoint template with a modern and creative design, this template is for you. It features 60 beautifully designed slides that come filled with pastel colors, creative formatting, stylish shapes, and image placeholders.

Prescription – Medical PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is perfect for designing presentations that highlight your key medical programs and services. It comes with a creative pink color theme that you can also customize to your preference. The template includes 35 unique slides as well.

Healthcare Center – Free Medical PowerPoint Template

This is a free PowerPoint template you can use to make colorful presentations for healthcare centers. It will allow you to showcase your business, services, and facilities in a creative way. There are 31 different slides in this template.

Therapeutics – Medical PowerPoint Template

This media PowerPoint template uses a clean and minimal slide design to effectively highlight your key points across the entire presentation. It lets you choose from 35 different slide designs. You can also change fonts and colors to customize it.

Medicalica – Medical Business PowerPoint Template

A modern and professional-looking presentation template for making all kinds of medical presentations. This template includes 25 unique slides with product slides, portfolio slides, and lots of useful layouts for showcasing medical products and services.

Antibiotics – Medical PowerPoint Template

This template comes with a modern slide design that instantly attracts attention. It allows you to make bold presentations with slides filled with creative shapes and visuals. The template features more than 35 different slides to choose from.

Recoper – Medical & Healthcare Powerpoint Template

Recoper is a modern PowerPoint template made with the medical and healthcare sectors in mind. It includes 40 different slide layouts that you can customize to create presentations for various medical projects.

Private Clinic – Free Medical PowerPoint Template

This free medical PowerPoint template is great for making presentations for various types of medical centers. It’s especially suitable for private clinics for showcasing all the services you offer. The template includes 29 unique slides.

Medicine – Health PowerPoint Template

This minimal PowerPoint template features a simple slide design filled with creative illustrations, image placeholders, charts, and a content design made for all kinds of medical-themed presentations. The template is fully customizable and it’s available in 6 different premade color schemes.

Medical – Modern PowerPoint Template

A modern PowerPoint template for medical presentations that comes with 63 unique slide designs. The template includes many editable vector graphics, icons, infographics, device mockups, and much more. You can use this template to make professional presentation slideshows.

Glade – Medical PowerPoint Template

Glade is a modern PowerPoint template featuring a minimal slide design. The clean and creative content layout of each slide in this template will allow you to easily highlight your content in presentations. The template includes 36 unique slides with editable vector graphics and image placeholders.

Dentosta – Dentist PowerPoint Template

Dentosta is a PowerPoint template made specifically for businesses and services related to dentistry. The template is available in 3 premade color schemes and in dark and light color themes. It includes multiple slides in both widescreen and standard sizes as well.

Free Medical PowerPoint Presentation Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with a set of modern and creative slides will surely help you to attract the attention of your audience. It includes 10 unique slides that can be easily customized to your preference.

Alpha – Medical PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template is crafted with medical centers and other businesses in mind. The template comes with 24 unique slide layouts you can use it to effectively showcase your business and services.

Modern Medical PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template comes with 30 unique slides featuring clean and modern designs. It also lets you choose from 5 different premade color schemes for designing various styles of slideshows. It’s perfect for making presentations for all kinds of businesses and events.

MediCare – Medical PowerPoint Template

Medicare is a modern PowerPoint template that features a minimalist design. It also includes slides filled with lots of graphs, charts, and infographics. The template features 50 unique slides that can be customized however you like to change text, colors, and images.

Free Medical PowerPoint Template

This free PowerPoint template comes with 30 unique slides you can easily customize and use to create a beautiful presentation to talk about all kinds of topics related to medicine.

The template also includes a fully customizable design with resizable graphics, color options, and attractive 3D animations. You can use this template with your personal projects for free.

In addition to its attractive and modern slide designs, the clean content layout of this PowerPoint template makes it stand out from the crowd. It also features a multipurpose design that allows you to make different types of medical presentations as well.

Medical Presentation PowerPoint Template

This is a multipurpose PowerPoint template featuring more than 100 unique slide designs. Using this template, you’ll be able to craft all kinds of healthcare, medical, spa, and many other types of presentations without having to use additional designs. The template is also available in 30 different color schemes, making a total of more than 3000 slides.

Medipro – Medical Presentation Template

Medipro PowerPoint template features lots of modern elements that make it a unique template for designing presentations for modern startups and businesses related to healthcare. The template includes 55 multipurpose slides with 90 master slide layouts and it’s available in 10 different color schemes as well.

MediLab – Medical PowerPoint Template

Medilab comes with a simple and clean design. This PowerPoint template is perfect for making slideshows for medical conferences, startup events, and many other healthcare related presentations. It features 30 unique slides in 3 stylish color schemes that you can easily customize to your preference.

MultiMedical – PowerPoint Presentation Template

Multimedical PowerPoint template features many useful slide designs, including timelines, graphs, infographics, charts, diagrams, and much more. The template is available in 3 different color schemes as well as dark and light themes. It includes 30 unique slides.

Medical and Healthcare PowerPoint Template

If you’re working on a presentation for a hospital, medical center, or a healthcare related business, this PowerPoint template will come in handy. It features all the necessary slide designs you’ll need to make an effective presentation to showcase your business. The template includes 40 unique slides.

Medicine – Healthcare PowerPoint Template

This bright and colorful PowerPoint template lets you customize and use 30 unique slides however you like to make powerful presentations that captivate your audience. The template includes image placeholders, infographics, vector icons, and lots more vector elements.

Medica – Healthcare PowerPoint Template

Medica is a creative PowerPoint template featuring 30 unique slides in 3 different color schemes. The slides in this template are fully customizable and you can easily edit them to change colors and shapes however you like. It also includes the template in a dark color theme as well.

Eye Health – PowerPoint Template

This PowerPoint template is specifically designed for making presentations related to optical and vision care. It features plenty of slides filled with infographics, illustrations, and icons related to the eyes. The template includes 20 master slide layouts in 2 different sizes.

Demedic – Medical PowerPoint Template

Demedic is a modern PowerPoint template that comes with 30 unique slides. With this template, you get to choose from 3 different color schemes to design presentations related to medicine. The template colors can also be easily customized to your preference and include image placeholders for drag and drop image placement as well.

Cure – Healthcare PowerPoint Template

Cure is a simple and elegant PowerPoint template that features a modern design with a minimal clean layout. The template lets you choose from 30 unique slides to craft powerful and engaging presentations. It also includes 3 different color schemes for customizing the design as well.

Medical – Minimal Medicine PowerPoint Template

Another modern PowerPoint template featuring a medicine related theme. This template comes with a set of 50 unique slides that allows you to design effective presentations for healthcare events and conferences. It also features editable colors, image placeholders, editable graphics, and more.

Medical – Creative PowerPoint Presentation Template

This PowerPoint template comes with a set of slides filled with colorful designs, illustrations, and editable vectors. The template is also fully animated and includes a pack of 1000 medical-themed icons along with image placeholders for easier editing.

Medical and Hospital PowerPoint Template

An elegant PowerPoint template you can use to design a slideshow for a hospital, medical center, or a service based business for showcasing your company or brand. This template comes with 70 unique slides in Full HD and Retina resolutions. It includes lots of useful infographics, charts, and it can also be customized with 110 different color schemes as well.

Healthcare & Medicine PowerPoint Template

This is a simple and modern PowerPoint template featuring 25 unique slides. The template comes in 3 different color schemes: Teal, Blue, and Green. It’s also available in both widescreen and standard sizes. It’s perfect for all kinds of medical-related presentations.

Medika – Modern PowerPoint Template

Medika is a modern and creative PowerPoint template you can use to make slideshows for medical business and branding presentations. The template comes with 20 unique slides featuring editable graphics, icons, and it’s available in 5 different color schemes as well.

Medical Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

This is a multipurpose PowerPoint template that comes with 20 unique slides that can be easily customized to make many different types of healthcare themed presentations. The template is also available in 3 different color schemes as well as dark and light color backgrounds.

Medical & Health Infographic PowerPoint Template

If you use lots of infographics, timelines, charts, and graphs in your presentations, this PowerPoint template will come in handy. It includes 20 editable infographic slides you can use to showcase different stats, studies, and research in your presentations to make a more compelling speech.

3 Things to Look for In a Medical PowerPoint Template

Whether you’re giving a speech at a medical conference, preparing a slideshow for an educational event, or making a presentation for a team meeting, here are a few tips that’ll help make your PowerPoint presentation more effective.

Minimal Content Layout

Using a clean and minimalist slide design always help convey your messages more easily to your audience. A minimal content layout makes the slideshow more effective by giving the spotlight to the key points of your presentation.

Look for a PowerPoint template that uses lots of space between content and elements and find a template with a clean background with a dark or light color for making a more professional presentation.

Editable Charts, Graphs, and Diagrams

Of course, you’ll be talking about lots of statistics, studies, and research data in your medical presentations. Sometimes it can be difficult for the audience to grasp data and statistics when you only use text to describe them.

This is why you should use lots of charts and diagrams in your presentations to visualize data. Thankfully, most medical PowerPoint templates come with editable charts and graphs you can customize to showcase your date more easily.

Easily Editable Designs

The main purpose of a pre-made PowerPoint template is to make the job easier for you to design a presentation slideshow. However, many templates fail at this task by making overly complicated slide designs that require expert skills to edit the template.

Make sure the PowerPoint template you choose has elements that can be easily customized to your preference. Being able to use image placeholders to place images in slides, the ability to edit the colors, and change fonts are also important.

For more inspiration, check out our handpicked collection of the best PowerPoint templates .

Effective Presentations: Optimize the Learning Experience With Evidence-Based Multimedia Principles [Incl. Seminar]

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is an effective presentation.

Professional education requires presentations, from a small discussion or a short video to speaking to a lecture hall with an audience of hundreds.  In fact, presentations are at the core of the educational process. With the effort to view all our educational efforts through an evidence-based lens, the construction of an effective presentation needs to undergo the same scrutiny. Whether a presenter intends to share plans, teach educational information, give updates on project progress, or convey the results of research, the extent to which the audience understands and remembers the presentation relies not only on the quality of the content but also the manner in which that content is presented. While the medium of the presentation may range from written content to graphics, videos, live presentations, or any combination of these and more, each of these mediums can be enhanced and made more effective by the use of evidence-based practices for presenting. Regardless of the medium, effective presentations have the same key features: they are appealing, engaging, informative, and concise. Effective presentations gain attention and captivate the audience, but most importantly, they convey information and ideas memorably.

With the integration of technology and online learning, educators have more opportunities than ever to present rich content that enhances and supports student learning. However, these opportunities can be intimidating to educators striving to engage students, as it can be daunting to create visually appealing and informative materials. Additionally, many educators feel pressured by the continued myth of learning styles: the widespread misconception that learning materials should match students’ visual, auditory, or kinesthetic “styles” to optimize learning (1). Despite being featured in many articles and discussions, there is no compelling evidence that matching educational content to learner’s style preferences increases educational outcomes. However, using multiple modes of delivery such as visuals, audio, and active learning has been shown to benefit all learners. In other words, no matter their stated preference, all learners benefit from a variety of media. Using evidence-based principles for multimedia content such as the principles found in Richard Mayer’s multimedia learning as well as the principles of graphic design and universal design supports learning and increases educational outcomes.

Why effective presentations work

What makes a presentation effective? Is an appealing and engaging presentation also an effective one? Research from cognitive science provides a foundation for understanding how verbal and pictorial information are processed by the learner’s mind during a presentation.

Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning

Based in cognitive science research, Mayer’s evidence-based approach to multimedia and cognition has greatly influenced both instructional design and the learning sciences. Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning comprises three learning principles: the dual channel principle, the limited capacity principle, and the active processing principle. Mayer’s cognitive theory of multimedia learning lays the theoretical foundation that underlies the practical applications to boost cognitive processes (2).

The dual channel principle proposes that learners process verbal and pictorial information via two separate channels (see figure below). Within each channel, learners can process limited amounts of information simultaneously due to limits in working memory, a phenomenon known as the limited capacity principle . In addition to these principles describing learning via the verbal and pictorial channels, the active processing principle proposes deeper learning occurs when learners are actively engaged in cognitive processing, such as attending to relevant information, creating mental schema to organize the material cognitively, and then relating to prior knowledge (3). These three principles work in tandem to describe the learning process that occurs when an audience of learners experiences a multimedia presentation.

Cognitive Load Theory, Adapted from Mayer (3) . Depicting how verbal and visual information is processed in dual channels through sensory, working, and long-term memory to create meaningful learning.

As learners listen to a lecture or watch a video, words and images are detected in the sensory memory and held for a very brief period of time. As the learners attend to relevant information, they are selecting words and images , which allows the selected information to move into the working memory where it may be held for a short period of time. However, working memory is limited to about 30 seconds and can only hold a few bits of information at a time. Organizing the words and images creates a coherent cognitive representation (schema) of these bits of information in the working memory. After the words and images are selected and then organized into schema, integrating these bits of information with prior knowledge from long term memory creates meaningful learning.

Cognitive Capacity . Three types of processing combine to determine cognitive capacity. To improve essential processing and generative processing, extraneous processing should be limited as much as possible .

No matter how important the content may be, the capacity of learners to retain ideas from a single presentation is limited. The amount of information a learner can process as they select, organize, and integrate the ideas in a presentation relates to the cognitive load, which includes Essential, Extraneous, and Generative cognitive processing. Essential cognitive processing is required for the learner to create a cognitive representation of necessary and relevant information. This is the desired part of processing but should be managed to not overload the cognitive process. Extraneous processing refers to cognitive processing that does not contribute to learning and is often caused by poor design. Extraneous processing should be eliminated whenever possible to free up cognitive resources. Generative cognitive processing gives meaning to the material and creates deep learning. Learners must be motivated to engage and understand the information for this type of processing to occur.

Foundations in neuroscience

What we know about cognition and learning has been supported and informed by research in neuroscience (4). Neuroscience advances have also allowed us to gain deeper understanding into cognitive science principles, including those on multimedia learning. Researchers have been increasingly tracking learner eye movements to study learners’ attention and interest as a method of validating the impact of multimedia principles, and the results have supported the benefits of proper multimedia design on learner performance (5). Another avenue of research with great potential includes functional MRI (fMRI) readings or electroencephalography (EEG) (6). It has long been established that verbal and pictorial data is processed in different parts of the brain. More recently however, by examining changes in blood flow in different regions of the brain, researchers in Sweden were able to demonstrate that increased extraneous load could impact the effectiveness of learning, in line with the dual channel principle (7).

Evidence for effective presentations

Mayer’s multimedia principles.

Mayer’s Multimedia Principles.

Mayer’s multimedia principles are a set of evidence-based guidelines for producing multimedia based on facilitating essential processing, reducing extraneous processing, and promoting generative processing (8). Mayer’s list of principles often includes fifteen principles, some of which have changed over time, and in a study conducted with medical students, the following nine principles were found to be particularly effective (3). The first three of these principles are used to reduce extraneous processing.

Principles for reducing extraneous processing:

• Coherence principle: eliminate extraneous material 
• Signaling principle: highlight essential material 
• Spatial contiguity principle: place printed words near corresponding graphics

To illustrate these principles, we will use a lesson about the kidneys. The instructor wants to make diagrams of the anatomy to use during discussion. The coherence principle says to only include the information necessary to the lesson. Graphics such as clip art, information that does not relate to anatomy, or unnecessary music reduces cognitive capacity. The signaling principle says to highlight essential material; this might include putting important content in bold or larger font. Or, if the kidney is shown in situ , the rest of the anatomy may be shown in grayscale or a much lighter color to de-emphasize it. The spatial contiguity principle says to place printed words, such as the labels, near the graphics.

Reduce extraneous processing .  Do : keep labels next to diagrams, use only essential material, highlight essential material such as titles.  Don’t: separate labels from diagrams, include extra facts, or have excessive text on a slide, especially with no indication of what is most important.

Principles for managing essential processing:

• Pre-training principle: provide pre-training in names and characteristics of key concepts
• Segmenting principle: break lessons into learner-controlled segments 
• Modality principle: present words in spoken form

The next three principles are used to manage essential processing. If the kidney lesson moves into diseased states or diagnostics, the pre-training principle says that learners should be given information on any unfamiliar terminology before the lesson begins. To satisfy the segmenting principle , the learner should be able to control each piece of the lesson. For example, a “next” button may allow them to progress from pre-training to anatomy to diseased states and then diagnostics. The modality principle says that words should be spoken when possible. Voice-over can be used and text can be limited to essential material such as key definitions or lists.

Manage essential processing.   Do: Present terms and key concepts first, break lessons into user-controlled segments, and present words in spoken form.  Don’t: Give long blocks of text for students to read without priming students for key concepts.

Principles for fostering generative processing: 

• Multimedia principle: present words and pictures rather than words alone 
• Personalization principle: present words in conversational or polite style 
• Voice principle: use a human voice rather than a machine voice

Mayer’s work also includes principles to increase generative processing. The multimedia principle is a direct result of the dual channel principle and limited capacity principle. Words and pictures together stimulate both channels and allow the memory to process more information than words alone. To adhere to the personalization principle to promote deeper learning, a case study is better presented as a story than a page of diagnostics and patient demographics. Finally, the voice principle says that a human voice is more desirable, so it is better to use the instructor’s voice when doing voice-overs rather than auto-generated readers.

Foster generative processing. Do: Present words and pictures, present words in conversational style, and use a human voice.  Don’t: Present text only, present words as a list of facts or overly technical language, or use a computer-generated voice.

Additional multimedia principles: 

• Temporal contiguity principle: present words and pictures simultaneously rather than successively
• Redundancy principle: for a fast paced lesson, people learn better from graphics and narration rather than graphics, narration, and text 
• Image principle: people do not learn better if a static image of the instructor is added to the presentation

Additional principles include the temporal contiguity principle , which states that words and pictures should be shown simultaneously rather than successively. This also includes narration and images or animation. For example, if an animation demonstrates normal cell division, the narration should be given during the animation, not after. The redundancy principle states that people do not necessarily learn better if text is added to graphics and narration. The duplication of information creates extraneous processing as learners try to process print and spoken text. The image principle states that learners do not learn better if a static image of the instructor is added to a presentation. For example, if students are watching an animation with normal cell division, they do not learn better if an image of their instructor is placed next to the animation.

Additional principles for fostering generative processing: 

• Embodiment principle: onscreen instructors should display high embodiment not low
• Immersion principle: 3D virtual reality is not necessarily better than 2D presentations 
• Generative activity principle: use generative learning activities during learning

In the newest edition of Mayer’s Multimedia Learning (8), three additional principles have been added. The embodiment principle states that onscreen instructors should display high embodiment rather than low embodiment, meaning they should use natural gestures, look at the camera as if making eye contact, and if drawing, show the image being drawn. If demonstrating something like a surgical procedure, a first-person perspective should be used so the learner sees the perspective of the person performing. Low embodiment would include standing still, lack of eye contact, and using a third-person perspective. The immersion principle states that 3D immersive virtual reality is not necessarily more effective than 2D presentations, such as on a computer screen. This is thought to be caused by the cognitive load on the learning involved in using 3D immersive technology but more studies are needed. Lastly, the generative activity principle states that learners should use generative learning activities while learning such as summarizing, mapping, drawing, imagining, self-testing, self-explaining, teaching, and enacting. These activities help learners cognitively select and organize new material and then integrate with prior knowledge.

Other Design Principles

Mayer’s design principles are functional but do not address aesthetics per se . Anyone can master the basic graphic design principles as discussed by Reynolds (9) to captivate and engage an audience. 

• Create graphics that are designed for the back of the room. Whatever the venue, the person in the back needs to be able to see and gather information from the graphics. Ensure font size is appropriate, image size and clarity is sufficient, and that font type and spacing allow words to be seen clearly from a distance. For online materials, this principle may mean designing for the person who will be viewing on the smallest screen (such as a phone) rather than assuming viewers will use a large monitor (10).
• Limit the types of fonts. Too many fonts or fonts that don’t coordinate well can make graphics seem jarring and unpleasant. Some programs will suggest font families that are appealing, and a safe guideline is to limit to two or three fonts maximum per graphic. 
• Use contrasting colors. Colors that are too similar or using type on top of images that lack contrast can make type difficult to read. Color family suggestions can be found online or in software such as Powerpoint.

Graphic design principles.  Do: Use coordinating fonts and color schemes with contrasting colors.  Don’t: use multiple fonts, excessive colors, and/or non-contrasting colors that may be difficult to distinguish.

In addition to singular graphics or presentations, online course presentation makes a difference in how learners perceive and utilize a course. When designing online learning experiences, consider using guidelines such as Quality Matters to assess the functionality. Quality Matters rubrics look at key components that have been proven to facilitate learning by making navigation and presentation of course elements explicit. Key components include providing information on how to get started, including learning objectives, allowing learners to track their progress, and using learning activities and technology tools that support active learning. Navigation among course components should facilitate access to materials.

In addition to all of these principles, accessibility must be considered in all forms of presentation. In education, designing for accessibility can be guided by universal design principles . Some schools may even require all courses and materials to be fully accessible. Providing accessible options has been shown to benefit all learners, not just those with a documented need for accommodations (11). Some basic accommodations that should be offered in any class include offering media in multiple modes. For example, videos should have the option of captioning and/or access to a transcript, and photos and graphics should have captions that describe the image. Many learning management systems and software programs now have options to check for accessibility. Additionally, most schools can provide assistance in assessing and developing accessible materials.

Practical Applications for Presentations in Health Professions Education

Implementation in the classroom.

When planning how to present materials in the classroom, first consider the most effective form of presentation for the given information. It may be a Powerpoint, a video, a graphic, or a handout. Consider using a variety of media appropriate for the intended outcomes. Creating high quality materials may seem daunting, but quality content can be reused, shared, and has been shown to enhance student learning.

Powerpoint has been much maligned for overuse and abuse, but well-designed presentations can be remarkably effective (12). When designing in Powerpoint, limit the amount of text per slide. One rule to remember is the 5/5/5 rule: Use no more than 5 lines of text with 5 words each or 5 text-heavy slides in a row and try to avoid bullets (13). Graphics are preferable to text or tables when representing data, but graphs and labels should be kept as simple as possible using 2D graphics and simplified labels that are easy for viewers to see (14). When presenting, refrain from reading from the slides. Slides should highlight important concepts and provide visual aids, not present everything. In addition, keep Powerpoint and video presentations short; most listeners will lose attention in 6–10 minutes (15,16). Whenever possible, engage the audience by interspersing active learning elements. Between sections or topics, transition slides can be used to indicate pauses for activity or reflection or to cue students to changes in topic (14).

When planning a presentation, consider presenting some of the information online before class for students to review. This flipped classroom technique allows for more class to be spent using active learning and facilitates the presentation of multiple forms of media and accessible options. 

Implementation online

Videos often become an integral part of the online learning experience. To facilitate learning, consider the following tips for your own video production (17,18): 

• Align the video with learning objectives and course outcomes. Focus on pertinent instructional points to reduce extraneous processing and thereby reduce cognitive load. 
• Limit the length of videos and use interactive elements to promote active learning. To help maintain student engagement and deepen learning, include interactive elements such as discussions, quizzes or embedded questions to maintain student attention. 
• Limit extraneous information, graphics, and sounds that do not pertain to the learning goals (19). Busy backgrounds, music, or animations that don’t contribute to understanding concepts unnecessarily add to a learner’s cognitive load.
• When using existing videos, ensure the source is reliable and the video is high quality. Video production can take time, so using professional videos can be beneficial if they come from credible sources that target the learning objectives with up-to-date and accurate information.

Additionally, Schooley et al. (18) have proposed a 25-item quality checklist that can help educators create and curate high-quality videos. Many of the items in the checklist have been discussed here such as length, captioning, using relevant graphics, and self-assessment opportunities, but also included are other points an educator should consider, such as the offering learners the ability to download files and adjust playback speed as well as providing them with recommendations for further reading.

For a course in any modality, creating and curating content online can save time and facilitate student learning. As you consider what material to create and use for your courses, assess existing material using the guidelines above to determine if it could be made more beneficial to learners. Does it follow Mayer’s principles? Does it follow graphic design principles and universal design principles? Consider using a Quality Matters rubric to check the course design for best practices.

Recommendations

Educator’s perspective.

• Use Mayer’s multimedia design principles to revise existing presentations and review new creations for simple changes that can make a big difference (12).
• When delivering a presentation, start by discussing an unusual case, presenting an interesting story or an unexpected statistic, or explain how the topic impacts the listeners. This personalization will help gain their attention from the start (13).
• When designing your own materials and graphics, “less is more” is often a good guideline: limit the amount of information on slides, limit the types of fonts, and limit the excessive use of colors (9,12).
• Videos should be limited to 5–6 minutes when possible and avoid exceeding 10 minutes. Break up longer videos and intersperse interactive elements to keep students engaged (15–17).
• When using technology and online delivery, universal design and accessibility considerations can be complicated. See if your school has an expert that can review your materials to ensure all students will benefit.

Student perspective

• When creating presentations, reports, and charts, follow Mayer’s multimedia design principles to ensure your audience gets the most from your presentation.
• Avoid copy/pasting but rather try and present concepts in an original way in order to augment your understanding of the material.
• When looking at materials online, look for options such as captioning, transcripts, or audio buttons for accessing additional media output.
• If a presentation is lengthy, pause and insert your own activities to help yourself stay focused. Taking notes, pausing for reflection, and self-quizzing can help deepen your learning and keep your mind from wandering.
• If a variety of media aren’t offered, consider finding your own to supplement your learning. Credible sources with learning objectives that align with your course can augment your learning experience.

(Please select all that apply) 

1. When creating a graphic about the current status of heart disease in the US, which of the following would align with best practices?

a. Gaining the audience’s attention with a picture of your dog.

b. Using 3 colors that coordinate well on a contrasting background.

c. A 2D graph with simple labels rather than a table of data.

d. An image on the left with labels listed separately on the right.

e. An image next to a paragraph of text that you will read for the audience.

2. Which of the following are true about educational videos?

a. They need to be created by professionals to be high-quality.

b. They should be less than 10 minutes.

c. There should be an option for closed captioning or a written transcript.

d. Longer videos may be used but should be broken up with active learning elements.

e. Videos don’t need to align to objectives as long as they’re well-made.

3. Which of the following would be examples of Mayer’s multimedia principles?

a. Using a human voice rather than a machine voice.

b. Using formal language instead of conversational language.

c. Playing soothing music in the background of a video.

d. Providing new words and definitions before the presentation begins.

e. Putting important words in bold for emphasis.

4. Which of these would follow best practices for online content?

a. Creating a module where all the material is on one page for easy access.

b. Adding buttons for next, back, and table of contents options for students to navigate.

c. Breaking material into 7-minute videos with practice questions between them.

d. Adding fun clip art and cool images to the pages even if it doesn’t directly relate to the content.

e. Having text only because images are distracting.

Answers: (1) b,c. (2) b,c,d. (3) a,d,e. (4) b,c.

Online Seminar

This online seminar and its accompanying article will focus on the topic of Effective Presentations, which have a set of key qualities: they are appealing, engaging, informative, and concise. Effective presentations gain attention and captivate the audience, but most importantly, they convey information and ideas memorably and efficiently. Using evidence-based principles in educational multimedia can ensure the development of high-quality learning experiences. Our host, Dr. Peter Horneffer will be sharing with us some key multimedia concepts that can help facilitate the development and implementation of effective multimedia into the educational process.

Watch the seminar recording:

Would you like to learn more? Explore the Pulse Seminar Library.

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Meredith Ratliff is a doctoral student in Instructional Design and Technology at the University of Central Florida. Her research interests include evidence-based medical education, branching scenarios, and faculty development. She has received her B.S. and M.A.T. in Mathematics at the University of Florida and her MA in Instructional Design and Technology from UCF. She has been an Associate Faculty member in the mathematics department at Valencia College in Kissimmee, Florida for the past nine years. As part of the Learning Science team at Lecturio, she serves as an educational consultant helping to design and develop materials for medical educators.

Satria Nur Sya’ban is a doctor from Indonesia who graduated from Universitas Airlangga. While a student, he served as the president of CIMSA, a national medical student NGO, working on a diverse range of issues that included medical education and curriculum advocacy by medical students. Before graduating, he took two gap years to serve as a Regional Director, and subsequently as Vice-President, of the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA)*, working on and developing various initiatives to better empower medical student organizations to make a change at the national level. At Lecturio, he serves as a Medical Education Consultant, supporting Lecturio in developing and maintaining partnerships with student organizations and universities in Asia, as well as providing counsel on how Lecturio can fit in existing teaching models and benefit students’ learning experience.

*IFMSA has been one of the leading global health organizations worldwide since 1951, representing over 1.3 million medical students as members spanning over 123 countries.

Adonis is a doctor from Lebanon who graduated from the University of Balamand. He was a research fellow at the Department of Emergency Medicine at the American University of Beirut Medical Center and has worked with the World Health Organization Regional Office of the Eastern Mediterranean. During his studies, Adonis served as the president of the Lebanese Medical Students’ International Committee (LeMSIC), a national medical student organization in Lebanon, and moved on to serve as the Regional Director of the Eastern Mediterranean Region of the IFMSA*. Among his roles as Regional Director, he focused on medical education advocacy, oversaw collaborations with external partners, and undertook several medical education projects and initiatives around the region. As a Medical Education Consultant at Lecturio, he advises the Lecturio team on how the platform can fit in existing teaching models and benefit students’ learning experience, develops and maintains partnerships with student organizations and universities in the MENA region, and conducts research on learning science and evidence-based strategies.

Sarah Haidar is an educator and educational specialist from Lebanon who has graduated with a BA in English Linguistics and a Secondary Teaching Diploma (T.D.) from  Haigazian University in Beirut, Lebanon. She has received her M.Ed. in Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL)  from the Lebanese International University. She has been teaching ESL classrooms at the Deutsche Internationale Schule for four years. As part of the administrative team at the All American Institute of Medical Sciences (AAIMS), she is working on the design and implementation of a set of academic and administrative reforms that can help both faculty and students in their professional and academic endeavors. She has joined Lecturio to support the Learning Science team in the writing and communication based tasks that might be needed to announce and market their services and events that are targeted at medical educators. She is also supporting the Learning Science team with her perspective on educational and pedagogical topics that will inform the general audience of educators.

Sara Keeth is a Ph.D. and certified PMP (Project Management Professional) who graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas. As an educator, she has worked as a Teaching Fellow at  the University of Texas at Dallas, as a full-time professor at Richland College (now Dallas College’s Richland Campus), and has also taught at Austin College. Dr. Keeth has also worked as a consultant for Parker University’s Research Center and has a decade of experience as an operations manager for an advertising agency. As Senior Learning Science and Research Project Manager at Lecturio, she manages the Learning Science department’s activities, shares her education expertise and best practices for medical educators, and develops evidence-based content for both students and faculty.

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• Alemdag E, Cagiltay K. A systematic review of eye tracking research on multimedia learning. Comput Educ [Internet]. 2018 Oct 1 [cited 2022 Jun 9];125:413–28. Available from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360131518301660
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Acting like a doctor: oral case presentation curriculum for medical students

David murphy.

1 North Bristol Academy

Alan Coombs

Rebecca rooney, junaid fukuta, timothy reynolds, justin morgan.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended.

Verbal communication is an important element to clinical practice and an integral part of undergraduate medical education. The oral case presentation (OCP) is often used in professional verbal communication and remains commonplace in the clinical setting. The OCP additionally has a complex role in undergraduate teaching.

We designed a OCP curriculum taking into account reasoning, rhetorical and linguistic mechanisms. Delivered through a content and drama workshop involving a trained theatre actor to 45 pre-clinical, undergraduate medical students at our U.K. institution. Students were assessed objectively at weekly intervals by trained faculty. A paired t-test was performed to determine if the curriculum was effective in increasing OCP scores. Students’ confidence was assessed using Likert scales.

An overall mean score improvement (M=20.3, SD 14.6, N=45) was significantly greater than zero, t (44) =9.3, two tail p <0.05, providing evidence that the curriculum was effective. A 95% confidence interval around the mean difference in score was 15.9-24.7. Confidence scores for both non-verbal and verbal elements of the OCP improved.

This curriculum led to an improvement in OCP scores and increased our students ‘confidence with this modality of communication. Consideration should be given to incorporating dedicated teaching of the OCP in undergraduate education.

Introduction

Verbal communication is both an important element to the clinical practice of doctors and an integral part of undergraduate medical education (GMC 2009). Such is the importance of verbal communication that poor communication, especially during handover, has been implicated as a causal factor in up to 80% of ‘serious and preventable adverse events in hospital settings’ ( Bergman et al 2016 ; Monks and Maclennan 2016 ). The oral case presentation (OCP) is one method often used in professional verbal communication and remains commonplace in the ward round, clinic and outpatient settings.

In addition to its implications in professional practice, the OCP has a complex role in undergraduate teaching. Firstly, it provides an avenue for student evaluation and simultaneous feedback ( Wiese et al 2002 ; Lingard et al 2003 ). Secondly, there is increasing recognition that the OCP also plays a subtler role in facilitating the acquisition of a new identity as medical students progress through their training.

A Tool for Evaluation

The role of the OCP as a tool for evaluating and giving feedback to students focuses on students’ ability to collect, assimilate and synthesise the relevant information in order to aid the process of diagnosing and managing a specific patient. The OCP may form the basis of informal learning on the wards or in clinic. At our institution, students are formatively assessed on their ability to present an OCP. To the listener, the students’ presentation is a proxy measure for how well the student understands the information they have gleaned from their clerking. If the student is unable to articulate their thought processes and lead the listener through their presentation toward a coherent differential diagnosis, that is taken as a marker that although a student may be able to perform an assessment of a patient, they are unable to understand what their assessment means. The use of the OCP as an assessment tool therefore depends in part on the ‘audience and presenter [sharing] a method of processing information’ ( Wiese et al 2002 , p. 212).

Although the processing of information is vital to the OCP, and indeed to medical practice, all too often students are left with little tangible guidance. Instead of simply instructing students to only include relevant detail in the OCP, we need to help students to understand what is relevant. There are several papers looking at facilitating this understanding both through clinical reasoning, and understanding of rhetorical theory ( Haber and Lingard 2001 ; Wiese et al 2002 ).

Socialisation

Social learning theory suggests that ‘a key to novice socialisation is not to learn from talk..but to learn to talk as a means of acting expertly in a domain’ ( Lingard et al 2003 , p. 618). The OCP provides a space for students to learn from and use ‘talk’, and it is therefore partly through the OCP that medical students gain their new identity as doctors ( Bergman et al 2016 ; Anspach 1988 ; Monks and Maclennan 2016 ). Interestingly, students often report finding the OCP to be very difficult ( Bergman et al 2016 ). This may be due to the complex and multiple learning opportunities the OCP presents; students can easily recognise the role that OCP’s play in verifying clinical knowledge because feedback on subject matter is instantaneous, but the socialisation that students undergo as a part of the OCP is perhaps more occult, yet arguably longer lasting.

The OCP not only allows the listener to evaluate and therefore aid students’ understanding, it also informs the listener of the professional status and competence of the student ( Lingard et al 2003 ; Bergman et al 2016 ). The way in which we as the audience of the OCP judge the competence of our students depends primarily on two particular aspects of the presentation; the structure of the presentation, and the language used within it ( Lingard et al 2003 ; Anspach 1988 ; Bergman et al 2016 ; Kroenke 1985 ). It is the language in particular that plays the greatest role in declaring the socialisation of medical students.

Not only can language give the listener an idea as to how much progress a student has made in their journey to becoming a doctor, language can in fact shape the student’s journey. One controversial linguistic theory, Whorf-Sapiri hypothesis ( Whorf, 1956 ), suggested that language is more than a tool of expression. This theory proposed that language itself informs our view of the world. This view fell out of favour in the decades after its first publication, but has recently been reviewed, and has gained some traction with a softer version. Whilst designing a study to evaluate the exact relationship between thought and language has proven difficult, some authors have sought to address this problem, and there is now a renewed interest in this area ( Zlatev and Blomberg, 2015 ; Casasanto, 2008 ).

Whilst the precise relationship between thought and language is debated in linguistic literature, proponent of social constructivism accept that the socialisation of an individual to a new identity does indeed take place through the acquisition of a new diction ( Mann 2011 ). Accessing the world of the medical professional depends then, at least in part, in acquiring a new diction in order to share in this particular perspective. The OCP is one method of expressing this new vocabulary, and allows students to signal their entry into the medical world.

It is not surprising, therefore, that students find the OCP difficult. Not only do they feel pressure to display their understanding and analytical processes, but they are also tacitly expected to speak like a doctor, often without explicitly being told how or why. If they are not yet fully inaugurated into the medical community, students’ professional authenticity is undermined in the eyes of the listener, and this is felt by students, although not expressed in this way to them. It is this jarring nature of the OCP that we set out to remedy.

Despite the importance of the OCP to students’ development, teaching is often lacking in this area. Students are noted to rely on a “rule based storage activity.. [and typically use] the same organizational format as their written records” ( Green et al. 2009 ). Our institution did not offer any formal training on the OCP prior to the development of this short course, reflective of the usual ad hoc trial and error approach described in the literature ( Haber et al. 2001 ). We therefore designed a method of teaching students about the OCP taking into account reasoning, rhetorical and linguistic mechanisms.

The curriculum was delivered to 45 second year medical students from the North Bristol Academy, University of Bristol. The course was run during the summer term as part of a four-week block designed to help the students’ transition from pre-clinical to clinical medicine. During the block, the students were asked to perform full clerking of one patient per week. These clerking’s formed the basis of the OCP’s that were presented in small groups of eight students facilitated by one member of faculty.

As, at the time of writing, no validated marking schemes were available, a marking scheme was developed by two authors (DM, NG) to assess the quality of the OCP. This focused on two areas of the presentation; content and non-verbal skills. The content was subdivided into ‘history’ and ‘examination’. The history subsection included marks for inclusion of certain ‘headings’ such as family history and social history. It also included a Likert scale based on the quality of the history ranging from novice to expert. This challenged the diagnostic reasoning of the candidate and their ability to prioritise information. The examination subsection also included a Likert scale to highlight the need to include pertinent positives and negatives when presenting examination findings. Non-verbal scores were based on the candidates’ ability to perform independently of their notes and engage the listener.

A maximum score of 38 was available for history, 18 for examination and 25 for non-verbal communication. An overall impression score was included giving a maximum score of 86 for each OCP.

All students were assessed prior to any intervention by presenting an OCP to a faculty member who had received training on using the marking scheme. This gave a baseline level of competence with the OCP. A five point Likert scale assessing the students’ confidence with the OCP was also utilised and completed before and after each workshop.

The curriculum began with a workshop on the relevance, structure and content of the OCP. This involved an interactive lecture outlining a structured approach to the OCP. It incorporated discussion on the relevance of OCP’s and a video example of a poor oral case presentation for the students to watch and critique. They were also given a handbook detailing a possible structure of the OCP together with examples of how to address each part of the OCP for common presentations.

A breakaway session then allowed time for the students to video each other presenting cases and critique themselves with the help of the faculty. The video recordings of the presentations helped to provide instant feedback by their peers and faculty to the students regarding the content and delivery of the presentation, thus incorporating the non-verbal element to the OCP.

A subsequent assessment of the OCP was undertaken one week following this intervention when students presented the case that they had obtained in the clinical environment to their peers and a faculty member in a small group format. This OCP was again graded and students were asked to identify their level of confidence using Likert scales.

The second workshop was delivered by a professional theatre actor and director, with experience delivering communication workshops to drama students, medical students, management and other professional groups. This session focused on rhetoric and the use of language between participants in any form of communicative exchange. Firstly, working in pairs, the students were asked to communicate using only physical gestures to guide their partner around the room. This exercise introduced the concept that each new conversation with a new partner develops its own set of ‘rules’ which cannot be transferred. Verbal language was then added back in to their repertoire with ‘yes’ and ‘no’ being used to demonstrate that complex ideas can be communicated through intonation and intent. The final part of the session focused on storytelling and how important information may be lost or altered during an exchange depending on the way the information is communicated in the first place. A third OCP was then assessed one week later (course completion) together with a final Likert scale rating their confidence with the OCP.

Feedback was collected from students with pre- and post- teaching session questionnaires, and separately as part of their feedback for the 4-week long block that this curriculum was placed into.

Data was collected for a total of 45 second year medical students who took part over a two-month period.

A baseline presentation is compared to presentations made after a dedicated workshop on oral case presentations, as detailed in the methods section. A further assessment is made after completion of the drama workshop/completion of the curriculum. Mean scores are presented in table 1 .

Table 2 below details the mean score differences at each assessment during the curriculum together with 95% confidence intervals.

A paired t-test was performed to determine if the curriculum was effective in increasing the oral case presentation score. An overall mean score improvement (M=20.3, SD 14.6, N=45) was significantly greater than zero, t (44) =9.3, two tail p <0.05, providing evidence that the curriculum was effective in increasing overall presentation scores. A 95% confidence interval around the mean difference in score was 15.9-24.7. A further breakdown of the differences in scores for each subsection of the oral case presentation is detailed below in table 3 , ​ ,4 4 and ​ and5 5 .

Likert scales were used to assess student confidence with regard to the OCP. These are detailed below in figures 1 to ​ to6 6 .

Overall, our results demonstrate statistically significant improvement in objective assessment of the OCP from the start of the course to the end, with a mean difference of 20 points, representing an increase of 23%. This increase came from both the verbal and the non-verbal elements of the OCP.

The improvement in verbal results following the content workshop were expected from the outset, given that this workshop contained a segment addressing recognised approaches to structuring case presentations. The unexpected improvement in non-verbal elements following the content workshop may be explained by the section of the workshop when students were shown a videoed exemplar of a poor case presentation, followed by a discussion and the opportunity to perform the OCP to a partner. We asked the students to film each other on their smartphones, critique each other and watch their own performances back to critique themselves. This was all facilitated by floating faculty members, to aid the students with their assessments of themselves. This may offer an effective and novel way to integrate technology into medical teaching, making use of the easily accessible and high quality video capability.

Interestingly, despite the expectation that the non-verbal scores (eye contact, pace, verbal tics etc.) might increase after the drama workshop, we found that there was no great increase between the content workshop and the drama workshop.

As outlined above, the focus of the drama workshop was more on a global overview of how effective communication takes place between two individuals rather than how to deliver a didactic presentation. Whilst this may go some way to explaining why there was not a great an increase as expected in non-verbal scores over the course, we speculate that the scores would increase further once students were more comfortable with the content element of the OCP.

We noted an overall increase in confidence scores from the beginning to the end of the course, but most of this improvement came from the content workshop. In fact, there was a slight loss of confidence after the drama workshop, which was another unexpected finding. At the same time, the students reported that they had found the drama workshop to be one of the most useful teaching sessions in the entirety of their second year at medical school. We speculate that this may be explained by the idea that the drama workshop tackled an element of communication to which the students had not previously been exposed, and that during this process they found this exploration interesting, and therefore discovered that they had more to learn about successful communication than they had previously realised.

This study had a number of shortcomings. There was no standardised tool available to mark the OCP’s. Facilitators were trained to use the tool developed by the authors, but no formal standardisation of scores was undertaken, so inter-rater reliability cannot be guaranteed.

Another potential pitfall relates the unexpected findings following the drama workshop. The assessment tool that was developed took in to account various objective measures of non-verbal skills, such as maintaining eye contact, but did not capture the aspects of non-verbal communication that are more subtle and difficult to define. Given the overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic feedback from the medical students on the session and their learning, the assessment tool developed did not capture all the effects that the drama workshop had, and so interpretation of the impact of the workshop based on the parameters set out above may not fully reflect the value of the teaching session.

It is also possible that some of the effect seen could be explained simply by the expected improvement in a skill following practice. This further highlights the need for formalised teaching sessions on the OCP; without a comparison group it is difficult to know how much of an effect simple repetition without intervention would have on students’ scores. Even so, this further emphasises the need to incorporate teaching on the OCP into the curriculum since students’ experience prior to the introduction of this curriculum was ad hoc and very limited, without opportunity for repeated practice.

Education regarding the OCP is often undertaken in an ad hoc basis despite forming a vital component of medical practice. We have attempted to provide a novel approach involving both the structure and importantly both verbal and non-verbal elements in an effort to produce a curriculum suitable for undergraduate medical students. This was well received by the students with objective improvement and has been adopted by the University for inclusion in the established undergraduate teaching programme.

Notes On Contributors

All contributors are Clinical Teaching Fellows for the University of Bristol Medical School. Responsible for undergraduate medical education at North Bristol Academy.

[version 1; peer review: This article was migrated, the article was marked as recommended]

Declarations

The author has declared that there are no conflicts of interest.

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• Version 1. MedEdPublish (2016). 2018; 7: 28.

Reviewer response for version 1

Benjamin hoatson.

1 University of Otago

This review has been migrated. The reviewer awarded 2 stars out of 5 A very thought-provoking manuscript. The Oral Case Presentation (OCP) is one of the cornerstones of clinical medicine communication. It is a complex task that requires assimilation and synthesis of information, clinical reasoning, and clear articulation/presentation. Because of this, the OCP poses as a significant barrier for pre-clinical medical students as they transition into clinical medicine. Despite its importance, research into education around the OCP is severely lacking, partly due to the heterogeneity in its format between different medical specialties and its inherently complex nature.Strengths of the study included:• Drama workshop. It was refreshing to see a holistic approach to the OCP that tried to address the content (content workshop) and the delivery of the OCP (drama workshop).• Non-verbal communication assessment. The inclusion of non-verbal communication in the marking scheme of an OCP is consistent with the course design (content and drama workshop) as well as EBM in the assessment of other communication tasks, e.g. history and examinations.• Use of mobile phone to record OCP for peer-peer feedback. The ability to retrospectively watch oneself is an invaluable tool for self-evaluation for the students as well as provides an opportunity for the students to monitor their progress throughout the course.There are several concerns of the study:• Query of results: A statistically significant mean difference between Post Content Workshop vs Post Drama Workshop/Completion of curriculum was stated to be 10.8 in Table 2. This cannot occur if the difference in mean scores of Post-Content Workshop (49) and completion of Curriculum (51) is 2 in Table 1. This discrepancy was also noted for baseline vs Post Drama workshop/Completion of curriculum which was 20.3 in Table 2, rather than 12 in Table 1. This inflated over-estimation of benefits of the study should be amended. • Omission of feedback analysis: Collection of feedback was not explicitly stated in the method section however, the authors unsubstantiated stated “students reported that they had found the drama workshop to be one of the most useful teaching sessions in the entirety of their second year at medical school” and regarding the drama workshop there was “overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic feedback from the medical students”.• Omission of statistical analysis of Likert Scales of student confidence: Analysis of these results were not reported in the results despite making reference to the interpretation of the data in the discussion “slight loss of confidence after the drama workshop”. This omission is likely because of the negative picture it casts over the utility of the drama workshop.Suggestions:• The inclusion of the omitted results as stated above• The inclusion of a qualitative assessment. I would also echo Subha Ramani within the comments that, assessment of student perception of the course would be invaluable and offer clear insight if there are any benefits of the drama workshop.• Speech/public-speaking coach may be more appropriate than a theatre actor and director. • Publication of the developed OCP marking schemeOverall, the article presents a novel holistic approach (content and nonverbal communication) in medical education around the OCP. This article would be of interest of medical educators involved in preparation courses around the transition of pre-clinical to clinical medicine and educators in clinical skills tutorials, but caution needs to be taken as the data appear to have been incorrectly reported/documented.*This is a student review*

Reviewer Expertise:

No decision status is available

Subha Ramani

1 Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital

This review has been migrated. The reviewer awarded 5 stars out of 5 As an educator who regularly teaches clinical skills, I absolutely enjoyed reading this paper. It is very well written, well referenced. The study design and the curriculum design are excellent. I particularly like the fact that the authors examined both content and non-verbal skills and engaged trainers with drama skills. The authors also describe the study limitations well.I only wish the authors had looked at qualitative outcomes as well and explored what aspects of this curriculum were perceived to be useful to the students and what their perceptions were in general about this educational strategy.Overall, this study and type of curriculum will be useful to all clinical educators

Trevor Gibbs

This review has been migrated. The reviewer awarded 5 stars out of 5 " What goes around, comes around" Having qualified in Liverpool in 1973, this paper struck specific chords with me; remembering the Friday afternoon sessions when all five years of medical school- in those days 500 students- were invited to the weekly oral case presentations - those students in final year were all expected to present one clinical case- in whatever subject- to the rest of us and then receive feedback from the senior faculty members - the Professors!. It was here I learned my medicine, it was here I thought about role models, the ability to tell a story, the ability to "think on ones feet" and realise that even in final year there was still much to learn. We didn't use statistics in those days to prove the value of such an activity- we all used personal and group reflection- and the realisation that you missed a great learning opportunity if you didn't attend.So, such a long personal reflection to say that I felt that this well written paper is one that curriculum planners should read and as the authors state, consider how we bring back the clinical oral presentations to enhance the many competencies required of our future doctors

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.

Reading this article counts towards your CPD

You can use the following forms to record your learning and action points from this article from Pharmaceutical Journal Publications.

Your CPD module results are stored against your account here at The Pharmaceutical Journal . You must be registered and logged into the site to do this. To review your module results, go to the ‘My Account’ tab and then ‘My CPD’.

Any training, learning or development activities that you undertake for CPD can also be recorded as evidence as part of your RPS Faculty practice-based portfolio when preparing for Faculty membership. To start your RPS Faculty journey today, access the portfolio and tools at www.rpharms.com/Faculty

If your learning was planned in advance, please click:

If your learning was spontaneous, please click:

[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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10 Templates Doctors Use for Patient Presentation example

When meeting with a patient for the first time, many doctors like to use a patient presentation example template to help them organize their thoughts and present information in an easily understandable way. There are many different types of patient presentation example templates available, ranging from simple blue presentations to more complex medical green presentations.

In this article, we will take a look at 10 of the most common patient presentation example templates used by doctors today.

1.Medical Green Presentation for Doctors

Medical Green Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to present a lot of medical information in an easily digestible way. The green color scheme is soothing and professional, making it easy for patients to follow along.

2.Doctor and Hospital Report

Doctor and Hospital Report: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to give a detailed report on their hospital stay or medical treatment. The blue and white color scheme is clean and easy to read, making it perfect for patient presentations.

3.Cartoon Medical Presentation for Doctors

Cartoon Medical Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to add a bit of fun to their patient presentations. The cartoon characters and bright colors are sure to engage patients of all ages.

4.Fresh Academic Presentation for Doctors

Fresh Academic Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to present a fresh, academic approach to patient care. The blue and green color scheme is modern and professional, making it perfect for patient presentations.

5.Fresh Blue Presentation for Doctors

Fresh Blue Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to present a fresh, modern approach to patient care. The blue color scheme is clean and professional, making it perfect for patient presentations.

6.Professional Blue Summary Report for Doctors

Professional Blue Summary Report for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to give a detailed report on their medical treatment or hospital stay. The blue color scheme is clean and professional, making it perfect for patient presentations.

7.Cartoon Doctor's Report on Duty

Cartoon Doctor's Report on Duty: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to add a bit of fun to their patient presentations. The cartoon characters and bright colors are sure to engage patients of all ages.

8.Simple Blue Presentation for Doctors

Simple Blue Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to present a simple, modern approach to patient care. The blue color scheme is clean and professional, making it perfect for patient presentations.

9.Fresh Green Presentation for Doctors

Fresh Green Presentation for Doctors: This patient presentation example template is perfect for doctors who want to present a fresh, modern approach to patient care. The green color scheme is clean and professional, making it perfect for patient presentations.

10.Simple Blue Presentation for Doctors

These are just a few of the patient presentation example templates that doctors can use to engage their patients. By using a patient presentation example template, doctors can ensure that their presentations are professional, informative, and patient-centered. So download WPS and Choose the template that best fits your needs and get started today!

• 1. 10 Patient Case Presentation Templates: Beautifully Designed Templates for Doctors
• 2. The 10 Best PowerPoint Presentation Introduction Example Templates
• 3. Patient Case Presentation Example Online Templates
• 4. 10 Best Presentation Handout Example Templates
• 5. 10 PowerPoint presentation in APA Format example templates
• 6. Top 10 Well-Organized Doctors’ Note Templates 2024

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How to Make a “Good” Presentation “Great”

• Guy Kawasaki

Remember: Less is more.

A strong presentation is so much more than information pasted onto a series of slides with fancy backgrounds. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others. Here are some unique elements that make a presentation stand out.

• Fonts: Sans Serif fonts such as Helvetica or Arial are preferred for their clean lines, which make them easy to digest at various sizes and distances. Limit the number of font styles to two: one for headings and another for body text, to avoid visual confusion or distractions.
• Colors: Colors can evoke emotions and highlight critical points, but their overuse can lead to a cluttered and confusing presentation. A limited palette of two to three main colors, complemented by a simple background, can help you draw attention to key elements without overwhelming the audience.
• Pictures: Pictures can communicate complex ideas quickly and memorably but choosing the right images is key. Images or pictures should be big (perhaps 20-25% of the page), bold, and have a clear purpose that complements the slide’s text.
• Layout: Don’t overcrowd your slides with too much information. When in doubt, adhere to the principle of simplicity, and aim for a clean and uncluttered layout with plenty of white space around text and images. Think phrases and bullets, not sentences.

As an intern or early career professional, chances are that you’ll be tasked with making or giving a presentation in the near future. Whether you’re pitching an idea, reporting market research, or sharing something else, a great presentation can give you a competitive advantage, and be a powerful tool when aiming to persuade, educate, or inspire others.

• Guy Kawasaki is the chief evangelist at Canva and was the former chief evangelist at Apple. Guy is the author of 16 books including Think Remarkable : 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference.

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Basic Template: Professional Medical Theme for Doctors

Basic template: professional medical theme for doctors presentation, free google slides theme and powerpoint template.

You’ve always been told to go straight to the point when making presentations. But also to never miss any important details. And also to make it visual and not fill the slides with text. Seems hard, but with this template for Google Slides & PowerPoint you can have it all in your hands. This basic template includes every resource you could possibly need, but with a compact design. The theme is dedicated to medicine, so if you’re a doctor looking for a professional design for your next speech, you’ve come to the right place.

Features of this template

• 100% editable and easy to modify
• 13 different slides to impress your audience
• Contains easy-to-edit graphics such as graphs, maps, tables, timelines and mockups
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What is ADHD?

Signs and symptoms.

• Managing Symptoms

ADHD in Adults

More information.

ADHD is one of the most common neurodevelopmental disorders of childhood. It is usually first diagnosed in childhood and often lasts into adulthood. Children with ADHD may have trouble paying attention, controlling impulsive behaviors (may act without thinking about what the result will be), or be overly active.

It is normal for children to have trouble focusing and behaving at one time or another. However, children with ADHD do not just grow out of these behaviors. The symptoms continue, can be severe, and can cause difficulty at school, at home, or with friends.

A child with ADHD might:

• daydream a lot
• forget or lose things a lot
• squirm or fidget
• talk too much
• make careless mistakes or take unnecessary risks
• have a hard time resisting temptation
• have trouble taking turns
• have difficulty getting along with others

Learn more about signs and symptoms

Get information and support from the National Resource Center on ADHD

There are three different ways ADHD presents itself, depending on which types of symptoms are strongest in the individual:

• Predominantly Inattentive Presentation: It is hard for the individual to organize or finish a task, to pay attention to details, or to follow instructions or conversations. The person is easily distracted or forgets details of daily routines.
• Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Presentation: The person fidgets and talks a lot. It is hard to sit still for long (e.g., for a meal or while doing homework). Smaller children may run, jump or climb constantly. The individual feels restless and has trouble with impulsivity. Someone who is impulsive may interrupt others a lot, grab things from people, or speak at inappropriate times. It is hard for the person to wait their turn or listen to directions. A person with impulsiveness may have more accidents and injuries than others.
• Combined Presentation: Symptoms of the above two types are equally present in the person.

Because symptoms can change over time, the presentation may change over time as well.

 Learn about symptoms of ADHD, how ADHD is diagnosed, and treatment recommendations including behavior therapy, medication, and school support.

Causes of ADHD

Scientists are studying cause(s) and risk factors in an effort to find better ways to manage and reduce the chances of a person having ADHD. The cause(s) and risk factors for ADHD are unknown, but current research shows that genetics plays an important role. Recent studies link genetic factors with ADHD. 1

In addition to genetics, scientists are studying other possible causes and risk factors including:

• Brain injury
• Exposure to environmental risks (e.g., lead) during pregnancy or at a young age
• Alcohol and tobacco use during pregnancy
• Premature delivery
• Low birth weight

Research does not support the popularly held views that ADHD is caused by eating too much sugar, watching too much television, parenting, or social and environmental factors such as poverty or family chaos. Of course, many things, including these, might make symptoms worse, especially in certain people. But the evidence is not strong enough to conclude that they are the main causes of ADHD.

Download and Print this fact sheet [PDF – 473 KB]

Deciding if a child has ADHD is a process with several steps. There is no single test to diagnose ADHD, and many other problems, like anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and certain types of learning disabilities, can have similar symptoms. One step of the process involves having a medical exam, including hearing and vision tests , to rule out other problems with symptoms like ADHD. Diagnosing ADHD usually includes a checklist for rating ADHD symptoms and taking a history of the child from parents, teachers, and sometimes, the child.

Learn more about the criteria for diagnosing ADHD

In most cases, ADHD is best treated with a combination of behavior therapy and medication. For preschool-aged children (4-5 years of age) with ADHD, behavior therapy, particularly training for parents, is recommended as the first line of treatment before medication is tried. What works best can depend on the child and family. Good treatment plans will include close monitoring, follow-ups, and making changes, if needed, along the way.

Learn more about treatments

Managing Symptoms: Staying Healthy

Being healthy is important for all children and can be especially important for children with ADHD. In addition to behavioral therapy and medication, having a healthy lifestyle can make it easier for your child to deal with ADHD symptoms. Here are some healthy behaviors that may help:

• Developing healthy eating habits  such as eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and choosing lean protein sources
• Participating in daily  physical activity based on age
• Limiting the amount of daily screen time from TVs, computers, phones, and other electronics
• Getting the recommended amount of sleep each night based on age

If you or your doctor has concerns about ADHD, you can take your child to a specialist such as a child psychologist, child psychiatrist, or developmental pediatrician, or you can contact your local early intervention agency (for children under 3) or public school (for children 3 and older).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funds the National Resource Center on ADHD , a program of CHADD – Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Their website has links to information for people with ADHD and their families. The National Resource Center operates a call center (1-866-200-8098) with trained staff to answer questions about ADHD.

For more information on services for children with special needs, visit the Center for Parent Information and Resources.  To find the Parent Center near you, you can visit this website.

ADHD can last into adulthood. Some adults have ADHD but have never been diagnosed. The symptoms can cause difficulty at work, at home, or with relationships. Symptoms may look different at older ages, for example, hyperactivity may appear as extreme restlessness. Symptoms can become more severe when the demands of adulthood increase. For more information about diagnosis and treatment throughout the lifespan, please visit the websites of the National Resource Center on ADHD  and the National Institutes of Mental Health .

• National Resource Center on ADHD
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
• Faraone, S. V., Banaschewski, T., Coghill, D., Zheng, Y., Biederman, J., Bellgrove, M. A., . . . Wang, Y. (2021). The World Federation of ADHD International Consensus Statement: 208 evidence-based conclusions about the disorder. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.01.022

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What Doctors Want You to Know About Beta Blockers for Anxiety

Start-ups are making it easier to get the pills online, but experts warn they should be used with caution.

By Christina Caron

Anxious ahead of a big job interview? Worried about giving a speech? First date nerves?

The solution, some digital start-ups suggest, is a beta blocker, a type of medication that can slow heart rate and lower blood pressure — masking some of the physical symptoms of anxiety.

Typically a trip to the doctor’s office would be necessary to get a prescription, but a number of companies are now connecting patients with doctors for quick virtual visits and shipping the medication to people’s homes.

“No more ‘Shaky and Sweaty,’” one online ad promised. “Easy fast 15 minute intake.”

That worries Dr. Yvette I. Sheline, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

“The first question is: What is going on with this person?” Dr. Sheline said. Are they depressed in addition to anxious? Do they have chronic anxiety or is it just a temporary case of stage fright? “You don’t want to end up prescribing the wrong thing,” she added.

In addition, although beta blockers are generally considered safe, experts say they can carry unpleasant side effects and should be used with caution.

What are beta blockers?

Beta blockers such as propranolol hydrochloride have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for chest pain, migraine prevention, involuntary tremors, abnormal heart rhythms and other uses.

Some are still prescribed for hypertension, although they’re no longer considered the preferred treatment , mainly because other medications are more effective in preventing stroke and death.

Beta blockers can ease the physical symptoms of the “fight or flight” response to stress, such as tremors, sweaty palms or a racing heart, but they are not F.D.A.-approved to treat anxiety disorders.

For decades, doctors have prescribed them for issues other than their approved uses, including for problems like stage fright. In recent years, celebrities like Robert Downey Jr. and Khloé Kardashian have said the medications helped them overcome performance anxiety.

How do they work?

When we start feeling anxious or stressed, our bodies produce adrenaline, which prepares us to respond to perceived danger. The hormone signals our heart to beat faster and narrows our blood vessels to redirect blood to important organs like the heart and lungs. Breathing quickens, and we start to sweat.

Beta blockers work by “blocking” the effects of adrenaline. They cause the heart to beat more slowly and with less force, which helps lower blood pressure.

But if you’re feeling especially anxious, “your mind is still going to race, you’re still going to ruminate and worry,” said Regine Galanti, a psychologist in Cedarhurst, N.Y., who treats people with anxiety disorders.

In other words, beta blockers are not going to address the root of your fears. “If it becomes like a weekly, ‘Oh, I’m just having a hard time in this course. I’ll just pop a beta blocker every single time.’ I would say, ‘What’s the long-term goal here?’” she added.

Patients are typically only prescribed a few pills for specific situations where they might experience performance anxiety, said Dr. Joseph Bienvenu, a professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. But some online companies dole out as many as 48 at a time.

Are there any side effects?

Yes. Beta blockers can make people feel dizzy. Other potential side effects include fatigue, cold hands or feet, trouble sleeping and nightmares. They can also cause stomach problems like nausea or diarrhea and, less often, difficulty breathing.

This is why some doctors tell their patients to avoid taking them for the first time on the day of a big event.

Dr. Bienvenu advises patients to initially try the medication on the weekend, or “when you don’t have anything else to do.”

“I just want people to know how it’s going to affect them,” he said.

Is it OK to take them for a potentially scary task, like a big presentation?

Possibly. But experts suggested visiting your general practitioner first.

Beta blockers may not be advised for some people with diabetes, low blood pressure or bradycardia, which is a slow heart beat — or people with asthma or another lung disease. And certain drugs, including some cholesterol and cardiovascular medications, can interact with them.

Online doctors do not have your full medical history and have not examined you in person, said Arthur Caplan, a professor of bioethics at the N.Y.U. Grossman School of Medicine.

Without a physical exam, some patients might not know that they have an underlying issue like an irregular heartbeat, he added. And they may not know who to call if they have questions after getting a prescription.

“You need to be managed on these kinds of drugs,” he said.

For those who often face anxiety-provoking tasks like public speaking, the experts said, it might be most beneficial to try breathing techniques or exposure therapy , which involves directly confronting what makes us anxious to break a pattern of fear and avoidance.

“Masking your anxiety symptoms is not going to teach you how to manage your anxiety symptoms,” Dr. Galanti said.

Christina Caron is a Times reporter covering mental health. More about Christina Caron

Managing Anxiety and Stress

Stay balanced in the face of stress and anxiety with our collection of tools and advice..

How are you, really? This self-guided check-in will help you take stock of your emotional well-being — and learn how to make changes .

These simple and proven strategies will help you manage stress , support your mental health and find meaning in the new year.

First, bring calm and clarity into your life with these 10 tips . Next, identify what you are dealing with: Is it worry, anxiety or stress ?

Persistent depressive disorder is underdiagnosed, and many who suffer from it have never heard of it. Here is what to know .

If you notice drastic shifts in your mood during certain times of the year, you could have seasonal affective disorder. Here are answers to your top questions about the condition .

How much anxiety is too much? Here is how to establish whether you should see a professional about it .

Farmer's severed hand saved by volunteer doctors

A farmer’s severed hand being saved after an accident involving heavy farm machinery was among the calls dealt with by a team of volunteer doctors.

The Beep doctors were set up in 1994 and are volunteer medics who provide an additional emergency response across Cumbria.

Founder Dr Theo Weston gave a presentation about the service to Cumberland Council’s health overview and scrutiny committee.

In a response to a councillor's question about whether ambulance waiting times were having an impact on the service, he said: “We are being called to jobs more and more”.

Referring to the incident with the farmer’s hand, Dr Weston said because a Beep doctor was able align the arm and hand, it was saved following surgery at the RVI in Newcastle.

He said that the hand was now 95% functioning and described it as as an "amazing success story".

Other call-outs have included road accidents, falls, crush injuries, stabbings and medicals incidents.

Dr Weston said that they had also been called to major incidents such the Manchester bombing, the terrorist attack in Paris and the Grenfell Tower fire.

He said the annual running costs were between £150,000 and £200,000 and the volunteer doctors had a mix of skills.

He said: “Funding, it’s always a struggle, but we seem to be doing OK for money."

Follow BBC Cumbria on X (formerly Twitter) , Facebook and Instagram . Send your story ideas to [email protected].

More on this topic

• Sellafield donates £61k for emergency responders
• Rural emergency doctors concerned over fuel costs

Related internet links

• Beep Doctors
• Cumberland Council

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Peter Dinklage Revealed As Dr. Dillamond During Universal’s ‘Wicked’ CinemaCon Presentation

By Anthony D'Alessandro , Nancy Tartaglione

Game of Thrones alum Peter Dinklage was unveiled today as the voice of Dr. Dillamond in Universal ‘s upcoming two-part musical Wicked .

Peter Dinklage joins Ariana Grande as Glinda; Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba; Michelle Yeoh as Shiz University’s regal headmistress Madame Morrible; Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, a roguish and carefree prince; Ethan Slater as Boq, an altruistic Munchkin student; Marissa Bode in her feature debut as Nessarose, Elphaba’s favored sister; and Jeff Goldblum as the legendary Wizard of Oz.

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In the film adaptation of the Broadway musical phenomenon, Dr. Dillamond, a goat, is a professor of history at Shiz University who warns Elphaba about rising dark forces that threaten the speaking animals of Oz, including himself. 

Wicked will be released in two parts as Thanksgiving events on November 27, 2024, and Noember 26, 2025.

The Jon M. Chu-directed, Marc Platt-produced movie follows the untold story of the young witches of Oz. Elphaba is misunderstood because of her unusual green skin and has yet to discover her true power, while Glinda, who is quite popular and gilded by privilege and ambition, has yet to discover her true heart.

The two meet as students at Shiz University in the fantastical Land of Oz and forge an unlikely but profound friendship. Following an encounter with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, their friendship reaches a crossroads and their lives take very different paths. Glinda’s unflinching desire for popularity sees her seduced by power, while Elphaba’s determination to remain true to herself, and to those around her, will have unexpected and shocking consequences on her future. Their extraordinary adventures in Oz ultimately will see them fulfill their respective destinies as Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West.

Dinklage upcoming pics include  Unfrosted: The Pop Tart Story ,  The Thicket ,  Brothers and  The Toxic Avenger . His extensive theater credits include  A Month in the Country ,  Things We Want ,  Knickerbocker ,  Richard III ,  Uncle Vanya , and  Cyrano . The actor is repped by CAA and Karl Austen.

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