Writing a case report as college senior, possible?

[cactusflower87]

Hello everyone. Not sure if this is the appropriate forum to ask this question, but I can't find any information online so maybe some of you medical students can shed some light.

I am a current college senior (graduate next month) and medical school applicant for the 2022 entering class. I have been doing research with a surgeon for a few years now, but recently he reached out and asked me to write a case report with him about a patient he had a couple of months ago. He gave me very general instructions about how to proceed (i.e. "talk with the pathologist", "interview the family", "research how to write a case report"). It seems like I'll be doing most of the work by myself.

My question is, how do I start to understand all this? Is it even possible to write a case report as an undergrad / prospective-but-not-yet-medical-student? He's aware I'm not in medical school yet so I don't know why he would give me something to work on if he knows I'm not capable.

Any insight would be appreciated.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Crayola227]

Yes you certainly can. Yes it's standard that you essentially do all the work with little help. That said, his name will be on it and he will he expected to make sure it's done accurately which he should have no problem doing.

Just go for it. Do your best. Do a lot of reading. Ask for help when you need it.

It can be disappointing just how much as a medical student you end up relying on Dr. Google to teach you medicine rather than your $50,000 a year med school, but being "self taught" is a big part of the process. May as well start now and get a case report out of it for your app.

It's not unusual and you can learn a lot. Good luck.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Moving to pre-med.

Yes, you can do this. Ask him if there is a resident or a med student who saw the patient who may be able to help coach you on writing a case report.

 

[cactusflower87]

It can be disappointing just how much as a medical student you end up relying on Dr. Google to teach you medicine rather than your $50,000 a year med school, but being "self taught" is a big part of the process. May as well start now and get a case report out of it for your app.

It's not unusual and you can learn a lot. Good luck.

Already submitted my app but I'm sure it'll be useful regardless! Thank you for the insight! I have been looking up a few case reports and what worries me is that there is a lot of terminology I am not familiar with. Although it is doable to look the terminology up and understand it, I am worried it will be much different to write it.

 

[cactusflower87]

I had two advisees who shadowed a neurosurgeon and wrote several reports concerning atypical and rare cases. They were published in a leading medical journal

Yes, you can do this. Ask him if there is a resident or a med student who saw the patient who may be able to help coach you on writing a case report.

I will ask if there was a resident in the case, but I am almost certain there wasn't. It'll probably take me long to do this on my own, but I guess that's part of it. Thank you both for the reassurance!

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

pubmed first to see if there’s any similar case written. If it’s too similar, it won’t be worth your time to write one. It’s getting harder and harder to publish case reports. More and more journals demand case series (more than 2 patients sometimes).