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The National Conference poster competition is to stimulate research by medical students and family medicine residents, provide a venue to share innovative and effective educational programs, showcase unique community projects, and encourage networking among medical students and residents with similar interests. In 2023, up to 50 entries will be selected for display at National Conference. Of those, the top 12 will be invited to give a brief oral presentation onsite for peer review.

Application Process

The required online application must be completed and submitted to the AAFP by April 1, 2023. An abstract of the poster and an art file must accompany the application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applicants will be notified by June 1. 

Dates to Remember

April 1 | Application Deadline
June 1 | Notification to Applicants
July 27 - 29 | National Conference
 

Eligibility

The submitter and all medical students and family medicine residents displaying their poster onsite must be:

  • Eligible to attend National Conference;
  • Willing to pay for and attend the conference; and
  • Member in good standing of the American Academy of Family Physicians. Not a member? Join now.  New or lapsed memberships may take one week to process. Please plan accordingly, as late applications will not be accepted.

Categories

  • Research – Summarize the results of a well-defined basic or clinical research project, including a hypothesis, dependent and independent variables, tests for measures of association, succinct discussion of data, etc. All work should be original. Projects may involve observational or interventional studies. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required.

  • Clinical Inquiry – Present a clinical scenario with discussion of an actual patient presentation or review of current evidence-based recommendations for a clinical topic. A clinical case presentation must include an introduction, case description, discussion of current practice guidelines for management of the patient, and conclusions. An evidence-based review need not be based on an actual patient presentation but must provide a systematic review of the current best research evidence to answer a clinical question. The presentation should provide an evidence-based answer on a topic relevant to family medicine and common in everyday practice and include an evidence summary, recommendations from others, and clinical commentary. 

  • Community Project – Describe personal experience working on a community-based initiative to improve the health of a specific population (e.g. providing adolescent AIDS education, working with school nurses to develop asthma action plans, establishing a health care program for the homeless, etc.) Student/resident applicant(s) must have served in a leadership role in the planning and execution of the project. The description should include an evaluation of the project. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required.
     
  • Educational Program – Describe an educational program or curricular innovation that has been evaluated for its impact on medical student or resident training. Student/resident applicant(s) must have played a substantive role in the creation, implementation, and/or evaluation of the target program. This may have been done in collaboration with faculty. Applicant needs to state specifically the role played in the program. If project involves human subjects, documentation of approval or exemption from an institutional review board (IRB) is required.

Submission Requirements

  • The subject of the poster must be of value to family medicine and within the scope of family medicine.
  • All projects must be complete at the time of application. Incomplete projects will not be considered.
  • The project or research described in the application must reflect work done while applicant was a medical student or resident.
  • The subject of the poster presentation may be based on coursework or an extracurricular activity.
  • Entries may not be taken from previously published papers.
  • Authors of accepted entries must be AAFP resident or student members, willing to pay for and attend the 2023 National Conference. At least one author from each accepted poster should be present at National Conference.

Instructions for Submission

1.  Log in to the AAFP submission website. 
Members may log in using their AAFP ID. Not a member? Join now. New or lapsed memberships may take one week to process. Please plan accordingly as late applications will not be accepted.

2.  Enter proposal information.
It is recommended you have all items listed below ready and in the required format before starting your online application. Required information and attachments include:

  • Poster title
  • Authors (up to four student and resident authors can be listed in official communications)
  • Contact information (including AAFP ID)
  • Short abstract (not to exceed 200 words) See examples.
  • Full abstract as an attached document (not to exceed five pages, excluding Reference page for Clinical Inquiry entries) See requirements.
  • IRB approval/exemption as an attached document (required if the project involves human subjects) Find out more about IRB.
  • FINAL version of the poster as an attached document (PDF sized 48 inches x 36 inches) Suggested guidelines for creating and displaying successful posters available. You will not be allowed to submit an updated poster file after submission or acceptance.

Full Abstract Requirements

Applicants must include all information outlined for each category below — five-page maximum, excluding the Reference page for Clinical Inquiry entries. Please bold each section header for easier reading.  

Research (See example.)

  • Project description
  • Objectives/purpose
  • Methodology
  • Applicant’s role in project
  • Results
  • Conclusions/discussion
     

Clinical Inquiry (See example.)

  • Introduction
  • Case description
  • Discussion of practice guidelines
  • Conclusions/discussion
  • References (Reference page may be in addition to the five-page maximum)
     

Community Project and Educational Program (See example.)

  • Project/program description
  • Objectives/purpose
  • Methodology
  • Applicant’s role in project/program
  • Results
  • Conclusions/discussion

Judging Criteria

Poster judging is a two-tier process.

1.  Application

  • Applications will be peer reviewed and judged on the following criteria:
    • Relevance to family medicine
    • Originality/innovative nature of project or question
    • Project description/statement of purpose and goals
    • Evidence-based nature of content
    • Validity of conclusions
    • Impact on future work
    • Visual appeal
  • Up to 50 entries will be accepted for display at National Conference. Of those, the top 12 will be invited to give a brief oral presentation onsite for peer review.

2.  Onsite Poster Presentation

  • Onsite judging for the top 12 posters will be held on July 28.  Authors will have three minutes to present their poster and will be evaluated on the following criteria:
    • Relevance to family medicine
    • Design
    • Display
    • Presenter’s skills
  • Author(s) of the top 12 posters will be required to staff their display during select hours at National Conference.  

Display

Posters will be printed by the AAFP and displayed on easels in a designated area at National Conference. The top 12 poster authors will be invited to give a brief oral presentation onsite for peer review.