Publishing Case Reports: Educational Strategies and Content Recommendations

Abstract

Background: Case reports continue to serve as valuable educational tools; they facilitate case-based learning and provide excellent opportunities for collaboration.

Objective: Our aim was to review the benefits of writing case reports and to analyze the characteristics of case reports published in a journal that focuses on care at the interface of psychiatry and medicine.

Methods: The literature on writing case reports as tools for medical education was reviewed. Then, case reports published in Psychosomatics were examined, and quantitative data (e.g., subjective quality measures, number of references and authors) were recorded.

Results: Of the 76 case reports published during a 3-year span (2015-2017), the majority examined an unusual presentation or treatment (86%), used an approach to teaching and critical thinking (84%), provided a sizable literature review (80%), and discussed a differential diagnosis of signs, symptoms, and disorders (53%).

Conclusions: Case reports provide intellectually-challenging opportunities for learning that foster scientific thought, encourage the use of evidence-based medicine, improve writing and critical thinking, provide experience with the peer-review process, and help to develop skills needed to write scholarly publications.

Keywords: case reports; education; mental health; research.