Are you wondering how to write a case report? You have encountered an unusual and interesting case as you get around, and a supervising physician or colleague asks you to write a case report. If you have never written a case report before, that may sound overwhelming, but it is a great approach to commence your medical writing. A case study always adheres to a standard format and structure, so the report writing is authentic once you master it.

This article is an in-depth summary of how to write a case report, medical case format, and how to write a case review.

Writing a case report

Follow these writing tips step by step for your assignment on how to write a case report;

1.      Initial steps

Start by discussing with your team members the case’s interesting aspects and the study points for highlighting. Normally, a middle-grade or registrar will guide and mentor you. Another medical student or junior doctor might also be careful to be included. Assign jobs to divide the task, set a work timeframe and deadline, and explain the authors’ listing order. Every listed author must contribute substantially, with the individual doing the majority of the task put first while the guarantor (normally the team’s most senior member) at the case report’s end.

2.      Getting consent

Get written consent and permission to craft the case report from the parents or patient, if the patients are children, and keep copies because you’ll need them for journal submission later.

3.      Information gathering

Collect all the electronic systems of the hospital and medical notes information, including imaging and blood results copies, since medical notes occasionally disappear during patient discharge and are very difficult to locate again. Don’t forget to alter the information according to the policy of the local hospital.

4.      Writing up

Write the case highlighting the presentation’s interesting points, the pathology/disease management, and investigations resulting in diagnosis. Get the case’s input from every member of your team, emphasizing their involvement. You must also include your patient’s prognosis if known, since the readers will need to be aware of the outcome.

5.      Devise a title

Discuss a case title with the supervisor and the team’s other members, as this gives your article focus. The title must be interesting and concise but must also allow people to locate it in search engines of medical literature.

6.      Background study

Research the pathology/ disease that’s your article’s focus and write one background paragraph/ two, emphasizing your case report’s relevance in association with this. If you’re struggling, look for a specialist’s opinion who might be familiar with relevant texts or articles. The hospital library is another reliable resource, where staff members are normally happy to assist with searches of literature.

7.      How distinguished is your case

Explore how distinguished is your case to the admission team. Alternatively, in case the report is concentrated on management, analyze the challenges the team encountered and alternative treatment options.

8.      Conclusion

Conclude by discussing why the case study report complements your medical literature as well as emphasizing all learning points.

9.      Write your abstract

Your abstract shouldn’t exceed a hundred to two hundred words and it must highlight every key point concisely. This may be more daunting than writing your entire article and requires special care since it’ll be applied to judge your case’s publication or presentation acceptance.

10.  What next

Debate with your team or supervisor about your case report’s publishing or presenting options. At the minimum, you must present the article locally at the grand round of the hospital or in a team or departmental meeting.

Medical case study format

Generally, a case report requires the components below:

1.      Abstract

In this section, you must summarize your medical case from diagnosis and symptoms to outcome and treatment. Typically, an abstract is very brief (a hundred to two hundred words), but you must make sure that it conveys your message correctly.

2.      Introduction

This must provide the clinical situation’s overview. In a few cases, a short literature review might be needed. Then, you must introduce your patient and explain the symptoms of the patient.

3.      Case

It’s the report’s main component. First, describe your patients and their medical history, then describe the initial physical exams as well as other pathological exam results. Next, detail the clinician(s) treatment decisions, together with the hypotheses and factors underlying the decisions. Lastly, detail the outcomes of the treatment.

4.      Discussion

Here, you should emphasize the case’s successes and challenges. Don’t forget to emphasize the importance of the case for the medical community by describing the treatment outcomes and strategy with existing literature results and hypotheses. You might also need to incorporate a discussion on how the outcomes agree or differ with the literature outcomes, and how your case might shape clinical practice in the future.

5.      Conclusion

This must summarize the main points. You may also include clinicians handling similar cases or the researcher’s recommendations.

6.      Ethical Statement/ Consent

The patient’s informed consent is needed to publish the case study report in journals. If you’ve any patient consent questions, you can contact your respective institution for guidance.

7.      Statement of data availability

Most publishers require all publications to include a Statement of Data Availability. Sharing your data on research not only increases your case report’s reliability and utility but its visibility and impact as well.

How to do a case report

This blog is targeted at residents, medical students, or even others who don’t have much case report experience, but are on the verge of writing one.

The case definition

The case study also called a clinical case report, means a detailed clinical patient encounter description. A case report’s most significant aspect, that is, the reason behind writing a report, is that your case is adequately interesting, unique, or rare such that it’ll educate other medical experts.

Case reports normally have these categories:

• Unusual disease presentation
• Rare diseases
• Unusual conditions or disease combination
• Unexpected events
• Inconclusive or difficult diagnosis
• Management or treatment challenges
• Observations that clarified a condition or disease
• Anatomical variations
• Personal impact

You must realize what is interesting or unique concerning the case study, and it must be explained clearly in your case study report.

The general format of a case report is:

1. Background
2. Presentation of the case
3. Investigation and observations
4. Diagnosis
5. Outcome
6. Treatment
7. Discussion

How to write a case review

If case studies are in a report form, you can split it into eight key sections, outlined below. Nevertheless, these vary based on assessment criteria and discipline-specific needs.

1.      Executive synopsis/summary

• Introduce the report’s topic area.
• Outline the case study’s purpose.
• Outline the finding(s) and key issue(s) without the particular details.
• Recognize the used theory.
• Recommendations summary.

2.      Introduction

• Your task’s summary
• Briefly outline your case to realize its importance.
• State the aim(s) of the report
• Provide the in the report’s main ideas organization.
• Briefly describe your main problem as well as its importance (You usually don’t need to give recommendations or findings details. However, it’s advisable to first examine the task instructions of your assessment.)

3.      Findings

• Identify your identified key problems by:
• Presenting your key issue(s) under evaluation,
• Giving your choices reasoning such as backing your findings up with facts provided in your case, the course concepts, and relevant theory
• Highlighting all underlying problems.
• Justify and identify analytical tools and your methodology. This may not be relevant to your analysis, so you’ll need to investigate the instructions of your assessment.

This area is often split into sub-sections. The subheadings and headings have to be concise and ​​informative as they serve as the reader’s guide to that section’s contents.

4.      Discussion

• Summarize your major problem.
• Identify the major problem’s alternative solutions.
• Briefly outline all alternative solutions where applicable and analyze the disadvantages and advantages.
• Depending on the evaluation criteria, you may quote professional or theory practice in this section.

Note that since case studies are about a particular situation, it’s daunting to generalize other situation’s findings. Ensure that the discussion concentrates on the case as well as your stakeholder’s particular case analysis lessons.

5.      Conclusion

• Restate your report’s purpose
• Summarize the finding’s main points, recommendations, and discussion.
• Restate your limitations if needed.

6.      Recommendations

• Select the substitute solutions to adopt.
• Briefly justify the choice, describing how it’ll solve your major problem.
• Don’t forget to integrate practice and theory as explained in the unit concerning your case.
• If required, suggest your plan of action, including who must take action, what steps and when, and the taken action’s assessment.
• If appropriate incorporate a rough cost estimate (both time and financial).

This particular section is at times divided into Implementation and Recommendations with your action plan’s details placed in your Implementation section.

Your recommendations must be crafted in an audience-centered, persuasive style that conveys your suggestions precisely, clearly, and concisely.

7.      References

• List every reference cited in your report alphabetically.
• Ensure you accurately format the references as per the specified style of referencing for the unit.

8.      Appendices (where available)

• Attach all original information that associates with the analysis and your case but that would’ve interrupted the main body’s flow.

Conclusion

Case studies are among the best approaches to getting the overview of whatever occurred to a situation, a person, or a group, in practice as evident on this article on how to write a case report. It enables you to get a comprehensive glance at criminal justice, the healthcare industry, businesses, etc. real-life problems.

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