HIV Chairman's Conference

 Last week I had been mentioning that I was preparing my HIV presentation for work...well it is called "Chairman's Conference." It is a thirty minute presentation that is given in front the entire department of pediatrics (well who ever shows up), including residents, rotating medical students, and faculty.  It is a big deal, or at least it feels like one.  You choose an interesting patient/case, present said case, and then do a teaching portion on the case. 

I wanted mine to be good.... I always do, but this is my last one.  I decided that not only did  I want it to be good, but I wanted to make a difference....to teach and educate, but also to bust up some myths.  I decided to present Chernet and his HIV as my case, despite the risk of everyone around me knowing and possibly judging and questioning (an issue I am working on)...

I was my usual, sarcastic self, though simultaneously professional.  I received good feedback so far.  I had several people ask me to share the presentation on here.... I am not technologically advanced enough to know how to upload the entire presentation...all 88 slides of it.  So, the Natalie version: take screen shots with my iPhone, email them to myself, upload to blog.  Here ya go....

The anonymous poll that opened the presentation.  Audience members had "iclickers" were you can enter an answer.  There was a mix between A and C, though I thought, even in medicine, it would be predominantly "C".

Between the previous slide and this one, I presented Chernet's medical numbers and labs... the case and then summarized it with the slide below....

For my "teaching" portion of the talk, I wanted a different approach...one to keep everyone interested and out of their phones without being boring and harping on medicine but rather giving the social and everyday side of HIV.  Erin, my friend/mentor/boss (though I prefer the first and second titles), came through for me... she recommended presenting it from both the parent perspective and the pediatrician perspective, each of which I am qualified to speak about.  She suggested doing it with the top 5 questions that parents would have and the same for pediatricians.  Though I would not say it to her face, she was right.  I believe this aspect of the presentation is what made it most successful and overall, very relateable.  Below are the questions from parents. 

 
Per JT's request, I led this section with "Unless your play dates involve, sexual contact, needle sharing or vaginal deliveries, your kids shouldn't get HIV" and received quite a few laughs.  I spent time on each area, but mostly regarding perinatal (mother-child transmission).  Then I proceeded with how you DO NOT get HIV...I included pictures of my boys sweating together, swimming together, sharing straws, and with their friends.  The pictures were a hit as well.

 

These were the questions I used to present issues for pediatricians.  This was geared toward the private pediatrician but I addressed inpatient and outpatient medicine as well as transitioning children to adulthood. 

 

 
Changing the stigma...I thought this was important to know and hear.  It was shocking to many and I think eye opening to some!

 

 

 

And, of course, I had to thank the important people.  Dr. Marshall is one of Chernet's infectious disease doctors and the ID attending who reviewed the talk.  Erin Owen, as I mentioned earlier, helped with structure and overall presentation and reviewed it more times than she had time to...Christa (and Danielle) are the chief residents... Erica and Heather are two my very best friends and both reviewed the presentation and kept me from melting down the day of... Most importantly, all of these people love my boys.  Yes, even the people with "DR" before their names.  An infectious disease doc, a critical care attending and residents alike love them..I thank them more for that than helping with a presentation...

 

Like I said, overall I feel that it went well.  If you have more questions or would like to see the full presentation, feel free to email me!