MAX Project Guidelines

All physicians should have a good understanding of the epidemiology and risk factors for health problems commonly encountered, as well as the influences of the particular ethnic, racial, environmental, and socioeconomic culture of the populations they serve. In addition, community health resources are often essential for patient care.

The purpose of the project is to examine a health problem from a broad perspective. In the clinical experiences, students give presentations on the clinical management of common diseases. It also provides an opportunity for you to bring together the range of clinical and community experiences of the 3 rd year to develop comprehensive approaches to health care problem solving.

The MAX project should take your knowledge and skills to the next level, e. g., to identify ways of addressing a problem in prevention or disease management for a population of patients.

The project should:

• build on skills from clinical care, community experiences, case presentations and evidence based medicine
• demonstrate an understanding of the epidemiology
• identify the social, psychological and cultural context of the issue
• include the patient's perspective as well as the physician's.
• identify controversies, future directions and make recommendations
• utilize literature, attendings, and discussions with community programs
• develop an comprehensive approach to a health care problem.

The project results in a 20-minute oral presentation in Powerpoint; electronic submission of the presentation and references, including 3-4 annotated references and the Index/ Community Resource Sheet. These materials are due in the CBE Office, AG -073, the Friday of the Homeweek of the presentation (they may be submitted electronically, to cbe@nso.uchc.edu.

The topic chosen for this project should be a health condition that is fairly common in ambulatory care, and that is amenable to improvement through changes in doctor or patient behavior, new health care delivery and/ or information for patients. You may select this topic based on a:

• primary care topic in which you have an ongoing interest, this might lead to your 4th year Selective project
• patient seen during your clinical experiences
• problem suggested by your clinical preceptors

You must discuss your project (to identify ideas, approaches and resources) with one of the committee members listed below. If you are uncertain about where to begin, you can discuss this with the faculty on the committee or stop by the Community Based Education Office and schedule a time to speak with Professor Lewis or Ms. Lindsay. There is faculty on the Committee from the major clinical disciplines; they can help guide you in the selection of a topic and addressing the project guidelines. They are available for telephone and e-mail consultation.

You will receive a reminder to consult with a MAX Project Committee member 8 weeks prior to the Homeweek Presentations. If you do not discuss your project with a committee member at least 6 weeks before the presentations, you will not be able to present. This means you will have to reschedule to complete your MAX requirements. Your project topic should be submitted a minimum of 4 weeks prior to Homeweek presentations. It should provide a title for your presentation, brief description of the topic and the name of the committee member with whom you discussed your project. This should be submitted by e-mail to Ms. Lindsay, slindsay@nso.uchc.edu.

The presentation must begin with why your topic is important to the overall health of the population. It must also include:

• General Epidemiology: overview of the incidence and prevalence of the condition and risk factors; race, ethnicity, geographical, age, family history, etc.
• General Clinical: discussion of diagnosis, treatment and management in a primary care setting
• Community: a brief description of community resources which have relevance for this condition (strategies, programs, target population); and specific information collected from two community organizations/ services (Note: the latter should not be clinical care or a list of websites, although a few websites can be included as references)
• The focus of discussion should be on the key issues for improving care or prevention for your topic. Ways to focus this might be:
  • controversies in medicine, e. g., prostate or colorectal cancer screening
  • emerging problems intervention, e. g., multidrug resistant tuberculosis, or West Nile virus
  • alternative medicine, e. g., value of specific herbal remedies, referral to other providers
  • doctor-patient relationship, e. g., working with translators, improving patient adherence
  • answers to commonly asked questions, e. g., how to reduce cholesterol, whether to take aspirin to reduce CV risk
  • Costs and outcome considerations
  • Your own recommendations on the topic
  • References and a brief annotated bibliography for 3-4 references (this means providing a short description of the type of article, major value, weaknesses)

The presentation will be evaluated based on coverage of the above areas, as well as the organization, clarity and quality of visual materials, presentation skills and references. The presentation will be limited to 20 minutes and must briefly cover all of the above areas. You should pick one area of focus and devote more time to this. There will be 10 minutes of discussion following the presentation. The presentation will be evaluated for content (including level of recommendations), clarity, organization, relevance, use of appropriate audiovisual materials, general oral presentation skills and quality of discussion. The references and annotated bibliography will also be evaluated. Faculty from the committee will evaluate the presentations and electronic submissions.

In addition to the library, the Community Based Education Office has resources that may be useful for your project. These are MAX project papers from previous years, patient information materials, community programs and other information. You may access this information during regular workday hours or by appointment (Betsey Graziano), 679-3482).

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