Is an ophtho case report considered research?

[rocketbooster]

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I already have done basic research and writing that up to hopefully be published this year. It is not in ophtho, though, so now I am looking for ophtho research as a 3rd year.

I asked one of the ophtho attendings today about any research opportunities, and he told me one of the faculty members was looking for someone to write up a case report. Is a case report considered research? Is it worth doing and how long does it take? Can it get published? Should I ask do the case report or should I look for clinical research instead (not sure if my department has anything more than a case report opportunity)? Thanks.

 

[airplanes]

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. A case report is a great way to get started in Ophtho research. Make good with the attending and he'll likely have other projects/publications for you to work on as well.

 

[RestoreSight]

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. A case report is a great way to get started in Ophtho research. Make good with the attending and he'll likely have other projects/publications for you to work on as well.

Is writing a case report a good method of impressing an attending and gaining access to higher quality research. The answer would probably be yes.

Is a case report true research? Yes and no. Strictly speaking, a case report is designed to bring to the scientific communities attention a novel disease or unexpected use of some technique or device. The purpose is to generate attention and hopefully more thorough studies. I think most case reports don't acheive this. Research by definition requires use of the scientific method and a testable hypothesis.

If you can find something else do that. The first case report you do will take considerable time and doesn't add that much to a CV IMO. If that's all that's available then take it

 

[MstaKing10]

case report as a med student is a great way to get some research under your belt. You'll learn all the basics of writing, submitting and editing a paper. It won't take nearly as long as a full fledged research project so great if you're in a time constraint. That said, case reports are getting harder and harder to publish, reason being, there is less and less that is new or has not been described before. There is a move towards publishing larger series these days. If your attending has a journal he thinks would take the case report then go for it, but don't expect immediate acceptance, you may have to shop it around a little and may end up in a less prestigious journal. BTW: I speak from experience!!!

 

[rocketbooster]

Gotcha. I emailed the faculty member and hopefully I'll get a response. Question: if I don't get a response, is it fine to just email another faculty member and ask about research opportunities?

My concern is this guy has a lot of leverage in the department and it's a small department. I don't know how it'd look if I go ahead and ask someone else, end up doing research for them, and then run into this guy (which I will definitely do soon after haha). Even if he doesn't respond to me, he still knows who I am and I don't want to create some awkwardness between us since I went somewhere else. He could play an important role in my recs and getting into my own school's residency, so I don't want to create any bad relations haha. Is that a concern at all or all in my head (hoping the latter)?

 

[MstaKing10]

then you may end up with two research projects. Not the end of the world. If you're in a real rush, then email a few folks. If you have a bit of time, then may be worth waiting. Or find him/her and meet in person. Showing some initiative may be helpful in getting some additional face time for the letter of rec down the road.

 

[Corn Dog]

While having a publication in your CV is definitely a plus, publishing case reports in good journals is no easy task. Before you spend significant time to write up and submit the report, I would do a quick literature search first to make sure that what your adviser thinks is rare is indeed rare. Also ask him to what journals he is thinking about submitting the case report.

Having said that, I think there are very low-impact journals out there that would accept any decent case report. I know several people who have published in these types of journals just to have something in their CV's, but I don't think it would impress anybody.

 

[rocketbooster]

then you may end up with two research projects. Not the end of the world. If you're in a real rush, then email a few folks. If you have a bit of time, then may be worth waiting. Or find him/her and meet in person. Showing some initiative may be helpful in getting some additional face time for the letter of rec down the road.

I happened to shadow this faculty member very recently. So already met him in person but not discussing research at the time. Think waiting a week is long enough? Normally, I would just email more ppl until I found a project, but like I said, he's big in the department and I'm sure there's a lot of crosstalk between faculty members. So, I don't want to find something with someone else too soon and then have him hearing from a faculty member that I'm doing something for them. Would make me look impatient and desperate lol, which is probably true but I don't want him to know that. 😉

 

[TheLesPaul]

Stop being anal! If you are interested in writing the case report, write it! If you don't really care, don't bother. Either way, your true passions will come out come interview time. Stop trying to do what looks good and do what you love. And stop stressing about how often you email people. It's not a date!

 

[Hemichordate]

I happened to shadow this faculty member very recently. So already met him in person but not discussing research at the time. Think waiting a week is long enough? Normally, I would just email more ppl until I found a project, but like I said, he's big in the department and I'm sure there's a lot of crosstalk between faculty members. So, I don't want to find something with someone else too soon and then have him hearing from a faculty member that I'm doing something for them. Would make me look impatient and desperate lol, which is probably true but I don't want him to know that. 😉

Are you a third year student doing your rotations, or are you still pre-clinical with more time on your hands?

 

[rocketbooster]

Are you a third year student doing your rotations, or are you still pre-clinical with more time on your hands?

Third year in clinicals.

 

[RestoreSight]

Stop being anal! If you are interested in writing the case report, write it! If you don't really care, don't bother. Either way, your true passions will come out come interview time. Stop trying to do what looks good and do what you love. And stop stressing about how often you email people. It's note a date!

^^ THIS 😍

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Yes, but few journals publish case reports. Consider submitting to Journal of Academic Ophthalmology:

http://digitalmagazinetechnology.com/a/?KEY=JAO-volume4-01#page=0

 

[rocketbooster]

Yes, but few journals publish case reports. Consider submitting to Journal of Academic Ophthalmology:

http://digitalmagazinetechnology.com/a/?KEY=JAO-volume4-01#page=0

So I'm pretty much done with the case report and sent to my PI but he suddenly stopped responding to emails. He originally said he definitely wanted to publish this, but now I'm wondering if he lost interest in it or hopefully he's just been too busy to review it.

If he does decide to jump ship, can I still list this on my CV? I'm not sure how I'd list it..."attempted case report?" Haha. It just sucks that I already completed most of the work and now it may not go anywhere. Can I still list it on apps to at least show my interest in research?