Writing Case Reports: Checklists

A checklist of 13 things to include in a case report.  The CARE guidelines were developed to increase accuracy, transparency, and usefulness of case reports.  Per the CARE guidelines, a case report must include the following:

1. Title
2. Keywords
3. Abstract
4. Introduction
5. Patient Information
6. Clinical Findings
7. Timeline
8. Diagnostic Assessment
9. Therapeutic Intervention
10. Follow-up and Questions
11. Discussion
12. Patient Perspective
13. Informed Consent

You can download a PDF version of the checklist too.

Surgical Case Report Guidelines

A checklist of 14 things to include in a surgical case report.  The SCARE guidelines were developed to tailor the above CARE Guidelines to surgical case reports. The SCARE Guidelines include:

1. Title
2. Keywords
3. Abstract
4. Introduction
5. Patient Information -- including
   • demographic details
   • presentation
   • past medical and surgical history
   • other relevant history
6. Clinical Findings
7. Timeline
8. Diagnostic Assessment -- including
   • diagnostic methods
   • diagnostic challenges
   • diagnostic reasoning
   • prognostic characteristics
9. Therapeutic Intervention -- including
   • pre-intervention considerations
   • intervention
   • intervention details
   • who performed the procedure
   • changes
10. Follow-up and Questions -- including
    • intervention adherence and compliance
    • complications and adverse events
11. Discussion -- including
    • strengths
    • weaknesses and limitations in approach
    • relevant literature review
    • "take-away" lessons
12. Patient Perspective
13. Informed Consent
14. Additional Information

Download the SCARE Checklist.