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COMMENTARY |
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Year : 2015 | Volume
: 8
| Issue : 6 | Page : 700-701 |
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Case report: Please report and share your experience and knowledge with others
Viroj Wiwanitkit
Dr. DY Patil Medical University, India; Hainan Medical University, China; Faculty of Medicine, University of Nis, Serbia; Joseph Ayobabalola University, Nigeria; Surin Rajabhat University, Thailand
Date of Web Publication | 19-Nov-2015 |
Correspondence Address: Viroj Wiwanitkit Wiwanitkit House, Bangkhae, Bangkok, Thailand
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
How to cite this article: Wiwanitkit V. Case report: Please report and share your experience and knowledge with others. Med J DY Patil Univ 2015;8:700-1 |
The recent editorial "Case reports - the ideal weaning food: Food for thought" is very interesting. [1] In fact, a case report is an important type of publication in the biomedical journal. This kind of article is published worldwide in several biomedical journals. Case report seems to be a specific thing for biomedical society. It can be the source of knowledge to the reader. It is no doubt that a case report is an important tool for continuing medical education for the general practitioner. When compared to other types of medical article, the case research has its specific uniqueness. It is not a literature review or review article. The content in the case report is usually a new situation. It cannot be found in any previous publication. Hence, it is no doubt that each case report contains high originality in term of its content. If we use the vocabulary of research methodology for the classification of the case report, it might be classified as a qualitative research. The indepth information gathering and collection following by indepth analysis of the content is the basic principle in preparing the case report. The qualitative research methodology can be applied in the preparation of case report writing.
Conceptually, case reports describe new findings, new observation, important innovation, rare situation, emerging problem, new idea, difficulty, new technique, new policy, and new approach, learning point, important error, or important note. [2],[3] These items are usually important and interesting issues in medicine. The first step to reporting is to know and recognize the importance of the case. As a note in the editorial, [1] this is the first step to recognizing "the food for the brain" or knowledge. After recognition of the importance, the second step is to prepare the content for reporting and the final step is writing, reporting, or submission of the article for publication. A good case report might not be long but contains information. The information is the actual "nutrient" within the case report that the reader can enjoy the fruitfulness of the case. One might raise a simple question why the case should be reported. Due to the rarity or complexity of the case, the decision to report can help generalize the observation. This can be helpful for the others for referencing or use in their daily practice, while the last advantage can benefit the patients. [2],[3] There are many forgotten usefulness of case reports to be addressed. [4] The examples are:
- The fastest updated resource on new emerging disease,
- The preliminary observation on new diagnosis, treatment, or prevention, and
- The record for rare case to sum up the overall statistics that can be further used for meta-analysis. [4]
Furthermore, as noted by Carleton and Webb, "case reports also serve as important educational tools to both authors and readers." [5] It is no doubt that the case report is really useful. However, a disturbing present concept is looking down on the merit of case reports. Some journals presently decide not to publish case report considering it is a small piece of knowledge. These policies in such journals should be reconsidered and the case report should be continuously published. To save the cost, some journals decide to publish the case report in E-format which is still applicable for recording and referencing.
Finally, as noted in the editorial, there are several ethical problems in the publication of a medical article in the present day. The problems can be by authors (such as plagiarism, duplication, falsification, fabrication, authorship conflict, etc.) and by publisher (such as predating). The ethics is the important issue to be addressed when one, author, editor, or publisher, considers writing or publishing a case report. [6] As noted by Putnam, the strong external reviewing process is the key feature to verify the transparency and accountability of the published case report. [7]
References | | |
1. | Banerjee A. Case reports: The ideal weaning food: Food for thought. Med J DY Patil Univ 2015;8:697-9. |
2. | Wiwanitkit V. Case report: What, why and how to report? J Clin Case Rep 2011;1:e102. |
3. | Wiwanitkit V. Case report: What, why and how to report? Case Study Case Rep 2012;2:1-3. |
4. | Wiwanitkit V. The usefulness of case reports in managing emerging infectious disease. J Med Case Rep 2011;5:194. |
5. | Carleton HA, Webb ML. The case report in context. Yale J Biol Med 2012;85:93-6. |
6. | Wiwanitkit V. Ethics for care report reporting. J Clin Case Rep 2014;4:e132. |
7. | Putnam FW. Jane Doe: A cautionary tale for case reports. J Interpers Violence 2014;29:3277-89. |
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