Guidance for Submission of Case studies
Many people have interesting case studies to share with their peers and colleagues. The case may be interesting for a variety of reasons;
• it is unusual,
• the individual had a medical history that needed to be taken into account during treatment
• that there was a lesson regarding collaboration between professionals during the treatment.
There are several ways in which a case can stand out and be instructive, sometimes it is difficult to know how to go about setting the story down.
There are a few guidelines that may help in the writing of that story. The below sets down a formula that may help.
1. Introduction
Introduce the patient/client/individual _ usually leaving out the full name but possibly calling them by an arbitrary first name like George or Susan.
Explain something about their medical history and any medication they may be on.
Explain how/the circumstances in which they presented. This may have a social component or simply a medical presentation.
If there is a link between how they presented, and their medical history do not dwell on it here but you may want to mention it.
A photo is very helpful
2. Discuss what happened to the patient
What did you do as regards their treatment, or what did others do?
Usually, this includes the types of dressings that were used or how different people interacted with that person.
If there are intervening photos that are extremely useful, please add them.
In summary, what happened to the patient and any final advice, photos etc. add anything that wasn’t done because of the circumstances of this case.
3. This section links the person to the focus of the story
If the story is about a condition and a wound, then you link the theory of the condition to the case. If it is about drug interactions and the wound then you talk about the drug, its actions and contraindications. If the story is about the patient and the way they navigated the health care system (or didn’t) then that’s when you write about the individuals, the system and any weaknesses/strengths that contributed to the healing of that wound. It is the opportunity to bring the reason for the case study to the reader’s attention so that we learn something.
4. There is an excellent free version of Grammarly, please use this to check for errors before submitting.
Provided by the Education Advisory Group NZWCS
Edited 11/3/2024
