PRIMERPatientcasereport1888AmJHealth-SystPharm—Vol63Oct1,2006PRIMERHowtowriteapatientcasereportHENRYCOHENPurpose.Guidelinesforwritingpatientcasereports,withafocusonmedication-relatedreports,areprovided.Summary.Theformatofapatientcasereportencompassesthefollowingfivesections:anabstract,anintroductionandobjectivethatcontainaliteraturereview,adescriptionofthecasereport,adiscussionthatincludesadetailedexplanationoftheliteraturereview,asummaryofthecase,andaconclusion.Theabstractofapatientcasereportshouldsuccinctlyincludethefoursectionsofthemaintextofthereport.Theintroductionsectionshouldprovidethesubject,purpose,andmeritofthecasereport.Itmustexplainwhythecasereportisnovelormeritsreview,anditshouldincludeacomprehensiveliteraturereviewthatcorroboratestheauthor’sclaims.ThecasepresentationsectionshoulddescribethecaseinchronologicalorderandinHENRYCOHEN,M.S.,PHARM.D.,FCCM,BCPP,CGP,isAssociateProfessorofPharmacyPractice,Arnold&MarieSchwartzCollegeofPharmacy&HealthSciences,LongIslandUniversity,Brooklyn,NY;andDirectorofPharmacotherapyEducation,Research,andResiden-cyPrograms,DepartmentsofPharmacyandMedicine,KingsbrookJewishMedicalCenter,Brooklyn.AddresscorrespondencetoDr.CohenattheDepartmentofPhar-macy,KingsbrookJewishMedicalCenter,585SchenectadyAvenue,Brooklyn,NY11203(hcohenliu@aol.com).Copyright©2006,AmericanSocietyofHealth-SystemPharma-cists,Inc.Allrightsreserved.1079-2082/06/1001-1888$06.00.DOI10.2146/ajhp060182enoughdetailforthereadertoestablishhisorherownconclusionsaboutthecase’svalidity.Thediscussionsectionisthemostimportantsectionofthecasereport.Itoughttoevaluatethepatientcaseforaccu-racy,validity,anduniqueness;compareandcontrastthecasereportwiththepublishedliterature;derivenewknowledge;summa-rizetheessentialfeaturesofthereport;anddrawrecommendations.Theconclusionsectionshouldbebriefandprovideacon-clusionwithevidence-basedrecommenda-tionsandapplicabilitytopractice.Conclusion.Patientcasereportsarevalu-ableresourcesofnewandunusualinfor-mationthatmayleadtovitalresearch...
