What qualifies for a case report?
Asked by: Karl Gislason | Last update: September 30, 2025Score: 4.1/5 (33 votes)
A case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence and as such, remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress and provide many new ideas in medicine.
What are the 3 most important points in a case report?
Generally, a case report should be short and focussed, with its main components being the abstract, introduction, case description, and discussion. This article discusses the essential components of a case report, with the aim of providing guidelines and tips to novice authors to improve their writing skills.
Do you need patient permission to write a case report?
HIPAA compliant use or disclosure of a case report for purposes other than treatment, payment, or healthcare operations3 requires either: (1) obtaining written authorization of the patient4 or the patient's legal representative; or (2) de-identifying the PHI.
What are the limitations of a case report?
The major limitations were: Lack of ability to generalize, no possibility to establish cause-effect relationship, danger of over-interpretation, publication bias, retrospective design, and distraction of reader when focusing on the unusual.
What are the characteristics of a case report?
Case reports should be short and focused, with a limited number of figures and references. There are usually a restricted number of authors. The structure of a case report usually comprises a short unstructured (or no) abstract, brief (or no) introduction, report of the case, and discussion [Table 1].
How to Write & Publish Case Reports
What qualifies as a case report?
A detailed report of the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports also contain some demographic information about the patient (for example, age, gender, ethnic origin).
What is the main characteristic of a report?
Reports are usually written in a concise style, giving precise detail. Although there are many different kinds of reports, they are usually structured in similar ways so that readers can find information quickly. Reports are not the same as essays.
How long should a case report be?
Word count limits vary by journal, with some as low as 500 words or as high as 3000 words. The word count of a case report submitted to the HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine should be around 2000 words from the introduction to the conclusion, excluding references, tables, figures, and figure legends.
What is the bias of a case report?
By definition, a case report has ADMISSION and SELECTION bias because the sub- jects included are considered outliers by being unique and have been selected specifically for this reason.
How many people can be on a case report?
Beneath the title, list all authors and their affiliations on the same page including their E-mails account. Most of the case reports are not prepared by a single author, but it should not exceed more than six authors; otherwise, the journal might not accept your case report for publication.
Is verbal consent enough for a case report?
European Heart Journal—Case Reports strongly believes in the ethical requirement for patients to consent to the publication of their cases. As such, it is expected that written informed consent will be obtained by authors from patients prior to submission of the case report.
What is the format of a case report?
- Background.
- Case presentation.
- Observations and investigation.
- Diagnosis.
- Treatment.
- Outcome.
- Discussion.
What is the patient perspective in a case report?
The patient's perspective is a brief description of the care received from the patient's perspective. It may describe their motivations for seeking care or report changes that occurred.
What should be included in a case report form?
Important part of the CRF is an informative header and footer, which can be customized. [7] In general, the header includes protocol ID, site code, subject ID, and patient initials. Whereas, the footer includes investigator's signature, date of signature, version number, and page number.
What are the limitations of case reports?
The main limitations of a case report refer to the limited possibility of generalizing the validity of the study and the impossibility of establishing a cause-effect relationship.
What is the aim of a case report?
The aim of the Case Report is to test the ability of the Candidate to diagnose, treat and follow up a case, and to record the various stages of diagnosis and management in a clear, concise and logical manner, which a professional colleague can easily understand.
What are case reports and examples?
A case report is a detailed report of the symptoms, signs, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of an individual patient. Case reports usually describe an unusual or novel occurrence and as such, remain one of the cornerstones of medical progress and provide many new ideas in medicine.
What makes a good case report?
Describe your case report in one sentence. Also mention how rare it is. You have to summarise the information that you have gathered: a brief history and important and relevant positive and negative find- ings with details of investigations, treatment, and the condition of the patient after treatment.
Which of the following are included in a case report?
Information should include: (1) Background, (2) Key points from the case; and (3) Main lessons to be learned from this case report. Keywords. Provide 2 to 5 keywords that will identify important topics covered by this case report. References.
How long does a report need to be?
The idea is that 25 – 30 pages should suffice for your “final report”. This page limit should be enough to get your findings across in a way that remains accessible to your audience(s).
What does a good report look like?
A good report has a clear and accurately organised structure, divided in headings and sub-headings. The paragraphs are the fundamental unit of reports. (See boxes below.) The language of reports is formal, clear, succinct, and to the point.
What is the common characteristic of a bad report?
This includes not only factual errors but also grammatical errors and typos. Such mistakes can detract from the clarity of the report and can give the impression that the report is not reliable or trustworthy. In sum, clarity is about more than just using simple language.
What are the 5 C's of good report writing?
All this can be avoided by following the 5 Cs of report writing. For reports to help your team in any situation, they have to be clear, concise, complete, consistent, and courteous.