Most medical students, including those studying nursing are required to make presentations on clinical cases. This can often pose challenges due to inability to present the case in a concise manner, placing facts appropriately, managing the flow and offering deductions and solutions.

This article will put case report presentations in perspective for medical, nursing and healthcare students.

What is a clinical case report?

A case report is a detailed description of a patients signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment and follow-up. These ususally describe an unusual occurence, disease, symptoms or conditions that can help further medical knowledge.

Assignments related to clinical case reports or case studies form an integral part of medical education.

Structure of a clinical case report

Medical and healthcare students are often expected to present case reports in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. For this, the structure or flow can be as follows:

• Abstract: A short summary of the case
• Introduction: A brief overview of the disease / condition, citing relevant literature where applicable
• Case: Includes all details about the case like -
  • Patient details (demographic and medical)
  • Case history, family history, medical history, etc.
  • Physical examination results
  • Pathological test results and other investigations
  • Treatment plan or structure
  • Expected outcome of the treatment plan
  • Actual outcome
• Discussion: This is the most import part of the case study. In this section, the student is expected to expand on the case, its relevance and learnings. Connecting the case to existing literature is also expected along with a mention of the message the case conveys. A detailed explaination whether the case corroborates with or detracts from existing beliefs about the condition and how this evidence can add value to future clinical practice can add value to case reports.
• Conclusion: This includes summary points, along with suggestions / recommendations.

Other points to be considered while creating a clinical case report

• Choosing the right template - make a design choice that highlights the content without overpowering it.
• Choose readable fonts. Maintain uniformity in font type, size (headings, sub-headings, titles, etc.)
• Maintain patient anonymity (names, pictures, etc)
• Correctly cite references of literature search at the bottom of each slide
• Always incorporate slide notes
• Use pictures, images, charts, graphs, smart art and other visual representation liberally to make your case study interesting
• Use appropriate grammar, spellings and syntax.

To conclude