Who gets to write the case report?

[WorkaholicsAnon]

What's the politically correct way of volunteering to write a case report? Do the fellows on the consult services get first dibs? Or is it the primary team who gets priority? If it's the primary team, is it the resident who gets dibs or the intern?

I am interested in writing up a case i recently admitted as a resident on the primary team. will it be cool if i volunteered to write it?

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[BlackNDecker]

Since you stated you're a resident, I'm guessing your at least a PGY2...and shocked that you've no idea about writing up a case report.

Write it up and submit it. Simple as that. If you need someone's help to show you the ropes of how to submit to a journal, then work out an agreement where they'll be included on the paper.

You don't even have to tell anyone your intentions. It's not an issue of "who gets dibs." Unless it ends up in the New England Journal, no one on the service is even gonna know you submitted it. I had some crappy residents tell me during my M3 and M4 years that a particular case was "theirs" and if I wrote it up and submitted it I had to put them as first author. Yeah...that's gonna happen...

 

[WorkaholicsAnon]

Since you stated you're a resident, I'm guessing your at least a PGY2...and shocked that you've no idea about writing up a case report.

Write it up and submit it. Simple as that. If you need someone's help to show you the ropes of how to submit to a journal, then work out an agreement where they'll be included on the paper.

You don't even have to tell anyone your intentions. It's not an issue of "who gets dibs." Unless it ends up in the New England Journal, no one on the service is even gonna know you submitted it. I had some crappy residents tell me during my M3 and M4 years that a particular case was "theirs" and if I wrote it up and submitted it I had to put them as first author. Yeah...that's gonna happen...

Well what can i say? i've never written a case report before. You gotta start somewhere.

BTW i think it was pretty underhanded of you as a med student to stealthily write up a case a resident was working on writing up. They were likely the ones who came up with the plan and you probably wouldn't have even known it was a case report-worthy if they hadn't told you.That shows lack of integrity on your part. I prefer to proceed more collegially and with a lot more integrity.

 

[Gastrapathy]

Since you stated you're a resident, I'm guessing your at least a PGY2...and shocked that you've no idea about writing up a case report.

Write it up and submit it. Simple as that. If you need someone's help to show you the ropes of how to submit to a journal, then work out an agreement where they'll be included on the paper.

You don't even have to tell anyone your intentions. It's not an issue of "who gets dibs." Unless it ends up in the New England Journal, no one on the service is even gonna know you submitted it. I had some crappy residents tell me during my M3 and M4 years that a particular case was "theirs" and if I wrote it up and submitted it I had to put them as first author. Yeah...that's gonna happen...

The cases were theirs. Not as a first author maybe, but give me a break, some medical student on the service decides to write up a case independent of the physicians who actually took care of the patient? That would be a new one on me.

For the OP, if the case was primarily a subspecialty case, you're best odds of getting it published is in a subspecialty journal. The easiest person to enlist to help you along is the subspecialty fellow or staff. They don't want to write it but they'll be happy to put their names on your work, and, for that, they can help you with it and make it more likely to be published.

 

[BlackNDecker]

BTW i think it was pretty underhanded of you as a med student to stealthily write up a case a resident was working on writing up.

give me a break, some medical student on the service decides to write up a case independent of the physicians who actually took care of the patient? That would be a new one on me.

I never said I wrote up the case...the situation I was referring to was on a neonatology rotation. I didn't have any intention of writing up the paper, the resident was just trying to dangle the case to get their name on a paper without doing the work. The majority of fellows and attendings I've written with have been overwhelmingly helpful and generous.

The easiest person to enlist to help you along is the subspecialty fellow or staff. They don't want to write it but they'll be happy to put their names on your work, and, for that, they can help you with it and make it more likely to be published.

If you need someone's help to show you the ropes of how to submit to a journal, then work out an agreement where they'll be included on the paper.

Jynx...

If no one else expressed interest, I don't see how this becomes an issue of "integrity." If I picked up the patient during end of rotation handoffs or pt was admitted by another member of the team, then I'd definitely include the admitting resident (since they would have written the Admit note and/or hand-off summary...i.e the case presentation). Likewise, if anyone else on the team expressed interest then I'd gladly collaborate...