I chose the topic of Mannitol vs. hypertonic saline and its effectiveness at decreasing intracranial pressure in the patient with traumatic brain injury. There are several randomized controlled trials but all of the sample sizes are small (around 20-50 patients).
The results of the studies I analyzed concluded that both drugs effectively reduced intracranial pressure. As expected, mannitol increased urine output more than hypertonic saline and hypertonic saline increased serum sodium. Currently, the 2007 Traumatic Brain Injury Guidelines do not recommend hypertonic saline in this patient population but perhaps the updated guidelines will include this drug.
A few things I learned from this poster presentation:
1. Use bright colors and interesting photos. Presentation and styling are just as important as content- if not more so. I kept my poster very simple but should have jazzed it up to attract more attention.
2. Less is more. When it comes to text on a poster, the rule of less is more definitely applies. There were posters that read like research papers and included every detail. I chose to present my information in succinct sentences or phrases, rather than pages and pages of text.
Overall, I enjoyed the process of putting together a poster and if I have to do it again someday, I would do a few things differently.
I had to do one of these posters last semester in our Research class. This semester we had a chance to submit our posters to convention & I wish I would have taken the opportunity to do that. Not because I was thoroughly enamored with our content but b/c it would have looked good in my Portfolio :) Oh well, maybe next time. Our kind of looked like yours but on a miniscule scale compared to yours, lol. Great job!
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