MedicsThe Ten Commandments of Grand Rounds
Listen: https://www.medicsmusings.com/episodes/the-ten-commandments-of-grand-rounds/
Learning objectives
After listening and discussing, participants should be able to:
- Identify the unwritten rules of a department's teaching conference and who they serve.
- Critique common presentation habits (slide overload, running long, dodging questions) using examples from the episode.
- Draft a short set of presentation norms your program would actually endorse.
Discussion questions
- Which of the “commandments” did you recognize from your own institution? Which ones made you uncomfortable because they're true?
- Satire exaggerates real hierarchies. What does the episode suggest about who gets to ask questions at grand rounds, and who stays quiet?
- What makes a grand rounds talk memorable? Think of the best and worst you've attended.
- How has moving conferences online changed attendance, participation and learning?
- If you could rewrite one commandment for the next generation of trainees, what would it say?
Quick activity
In pairs, write a “commandment” your program should keep and one it should retire. Share and vote.
How to run it
Play the episode together (5 minutes) or assign it beforehand. Start with the first question to let people react to the humor, then move to the harder ones. Remind the group that the episode is satire and some of its “facts” are invented; spotting which ones is a good exercise in itself.
Background reading
Free to use. These guides are not accredited for CME or CE credit. Programs are welcome to use them within their own accredited activities. Episodes are satirical and AI-generated; characters and “facts” in them may be fictional, which is part of what makes them good discussion starters. Tell us how it went: send feedback.